ESIS extension / Key Person Contacts and Organisations / Slovenia / Update Memo 4

Will the opening of the electrical power supply market have an impact on the telecommunications market?
All students in halls of residence in Ljubljana will be connected to the Internet.
Co-operation between IT companies and universities is strengthening.

Restructuring of electrical power supply enterprises and opening of the market. In accordance with the recently adopted law, electrical power supply enterprises will have to undergo restructuring and privatisation. The liberalisation and opening of the power supply sector is interesting, as on one side, the Government resolved to open the market in the year 2000 (soon after adopting the corresponding law), and on the other side the main high voltage transmission operator (ELES – Elektro Slovenija d.o.o.) is also the most important alternative infrastructure provider.

Rooms in student halls of residence in Ljubljana will be connected to the Internet. A referendum was conducted in the beginning of this year in which students, in two of three student halls of residence campuses, decided to connect all rooms to the ISDN based GoeCentrex service of Telekom Slovenije d.d.. It should be mentioned, however, that there was strong opposition to the connection to GeoCentrex, especially in the third campus where one of the halls of residence was already connected to the Univresity of Ljubljana broadband network. The main reason for the opposition was the fact that ISDN is based on old technology and is also very expensive in Slovenia. On the other hand, the broadband network provides much higher transmission capacity and is also much cheaper – 6 euros/month for unlimited access compared to 2.5 euros/hour (128 kbit/sek) or 1.25 euros/hour (64 kbit/sek) for ISDN access to the Internet (the access is 50% cheaper between 7 pm and 7 am). Internet service provision is free for students if they connect through the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia or KISS (a non-commercial Internet service provider for students of University of Ljubljana).

IBM Slovenia donates IT to both universities. Rectors of both Slovene universities, Prof Dr Joze Mencinger (University of Ljubljana) and Prof Dr Ludvik Toplak (University of Maribor), signed an agreement on co-operation in the academic year 2000/2001 with the General Manager of IBM Slovenia d.o.o. Mr Iztok Klancnik. Within the scope of a project, lecture rooms will be equipped with the latest IT and lecturers will be trained. As a part of the co-operation, IBM Slovenija will donate IT (hardware and software) in the total amount of 275 thousand euros. The project was launched as part of IBM’s global academic initiative. The aim of the project is to educate a new generation of engineers that will help establish the new information economy in Slovenia.

Slovene mobile and Internet services markets are very dynamic. The growth of mobile subscribers is lower than last year but still high. New services (e.g. WAP) are being developed by several service providers.

An ambitious new player in the telecommunications market. Telemach d.o.o. is a new player in the Slovene telecommunications market. It was established in the beginning of this year by new partners joining the cable TV operator Meglic-Telecom d.o.o. (c.f. also the Alternative Infrastructure Report). At the first annual conference of owners, a president of the conference was elected and a management board appointed. Mr Joze Jermol, Chairman of the BTC d.d. board, was elected Chairman (of the owners conference), while Mr Tomo Mali and Ms. Violeta Bulc were appointed as President and Executive Vice-President of the board, respectively. The new management team announced Telemach’s strategy according to which the company is to become the first multimedia service provider in Slovenia to focus on the provision of cable TV services, Internet access and virtual private networks. Telemach also aims to become the official competitor of Telekom Slovenije d.d. in the voice telephony market and plans to expand its services to other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. During the event Teleinfos’2000, Telemach and EON d.o.o. signed a letter of intent to foster co-operation between the two companies to become leading providers of telecommunications and Internet services in Slovenia. Both companies will continue with the development of their own services, but they will also develop joined services. One of the common projects will be the development of Web portals.

The mobile telephony market still enjoys a high growth rate. In 1999, the Slovene mobile telephony market grew by 270%. The growth, initiated by the entrance of a second operator and the introduction of prepaid services, continues this year. However, it was only this year that this competition resulted in significant decreases in prices. In addition to falling prices of mobile services, users are offered various new services. One of the most popular being theWAP service, announced by both mobile operators (Mobitel d.d. and Si.mobil d.d.) and some Internet Service Providers (e.g. EON d.o.o.). The leading company for the development of Internet and mobile WAP services is Inetis d.o.o., which together with the Tourist Organisation of Celje launched the first WAP service in February providing tourist information about the town of Celje (http://wap.inetis.com/celje/).

Mobitel continues to provide mobile satellite services. After Iridium went out of business, Mobitel d.d. began talks with other mobile satellite communications operators. It has already signed a contract on roaming and service provision with Elsacom Globalstar. Thus, former Iridum customers are expected to migrate to the new satellite telephone provider when it starts with commercial provision of services.

Hermes Plus acquires Macek. Hermes Plus d.d., a leading IT system integrator in Slovenia, Croatia and Macedonia, was one of key actors in Slovene IT market consolidation in 1999. It began this year with a new acquisition. The acquisition of Macek d.o.o., a fast growing IT company, was 500.000 euros worth. Thus Macek joined the Hermes Plus Group now consisting of Hermes Plus d.d., HPC d.o.o., Probis d.o.o., ICOS d.o.o. and Macek d.o.o.. The group operates within the S&T Group with an overall annual revenue over 75 million euros.

Hermes SoftLab moves into mobile and e-banking business services. Hermes SoftLab d.d. is a leading Slovene software development company employing 300 engineers and with 350 employees overall. It’s total annual revenue in 1999 was 25 million euros and its profits amounted to 2 million euros. Mr Rudi Bric, Chairman and CEO of Hermes SoftLab, announced the acquisition of Zaslon d.o.o., one of the leading companies in providing solutions for e-banking. Acording to Mr Mitja Trampuz, CEO of Zaslon, the company’s total annual revenue was 2 million euros in 1999. Through the acquisition of Zaslon, Hermes SoftLab intends to become a leading provider of software solutions for the financial and telecommunications sectors, this was according to Mr. Bostjan Bregar, COO of Hermes SofLab.

A new General Manager of IBM Slovenia. At the beginning of this year, Mr Janez Bencina, former General Manager of IBM Slovenia d.o.o., was appointed General Manager of the South East Area (IBM Central and Eastern Europe / Middle East / Africa, Inc.). His position at the top of IBM Slovenia was turned over to Mr Iztok Klancnik.

A new General Manager of Microsoft Slovenia. A former director of Microsoft d.o.o. Mr Aaron Marko was appointed a Regional Manager for OEM for Eastern Europe. The position of a General Manager of Microsoft Slovenia was turned over to Mr Grega Kukec who has been with the Slovene branch of Microsoft since its foundation in 1994.

Hermes Plus under new management. Mr Slavko Despotovic was CEO of Hermes Plus for the past nine years. At the beginning of this year, he accepted the position of CEO for Sales, Marketing and Maintenance with the Vienna based group S&T – System Integration & Technology Distribution, which is also a major shareholder in Hermes Plus. At the meeting on 7 March 2000, the supervisory board of Hermes Plus, appointed Mr Klavdij Godnic as the new CEO. At the same meeting, Mr Karl Tantscher, General Manager of S&T, was elected as the new Chairman of the supervisory board.

Please note that this report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors.
It does not necessarily reflect the views of the Commission, nor does the Commission accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of information contained herein.
The ESIS Team of contractors welcomes any additional information or corrections.