Update July 2000: FYR Macedonia

Society wide promotional and awareness context

In the last three months we have been witnessing a notable progress along several very important lines of IS development in Macedonia. Most of the developments as well as the corresponding promotional actions have focused on telecommunication infrastructure, IS strategy and deregulation of the telecom market.

The Macedonian president, Mr. Boris Trajkovski, reinforced the urgent need for completing the work on National Strategy for Information Society. Addressing the audience on the opening of the Second CEENet Workshop in Ohrid, he expressed his own commitment to assist in the establishment of the National Committee for IS. Mr. Trajkovski stressed that IS development is one of the key initiatives through which Macedonia has to demonstrate a strong commitment towards integration within European and North Atlantic structures (see the corresponding entry in the ESIS-II database - Macedonian president, Mr. Boris Trajkovski on the importance of National IS Strategy)

Along with the privatisation strategy in the telecom sector, the Macedonian Government and the Macedonian Ministry of Transport and Communications in conjunction with the Makedonski Telekomunikacii AD (Macedonian Telecom), have prepared and issued a public international pre-qualification tender for the selling of 51% of the shares of this public enterprise. The bidding process is presently in the phase of evaluating of the bids. Due to the business-sensitive character of the procedure, no official detailed information has been given. By the end of this July it is expected that the joint committee of experts from the Government and the operator will start negotiations with the short-listed bidders (see the corresponding entry in the ESIS II database - Pre-qualification Tender for Privatisation of the Macedonian Telecom)

The Makedonski Telekomunikacii AD (Macedonian Telecom) continues to be going through a very strong momentum in their technological modernisation and development, aiming to become a more competitive and attractive operator to the future owners and particularly to the present and future users.

Mobile operator MobiMak is about to complete the major upgrade of its network infrastructure, which will increase the present capacity of 70.000 subscribers to 170.000. The new technology will also make the network ready for the rollout of the services of the 3G wireless networks.

Public Dial-in Internet Access platform has been modernised; offering some advanced features to the business users through the Web now (see the corresponding entry in the ESIS II database - Modernisation of services in Mobile Telephony and Internet Access of Macedonian Telecom).

Association of the Central and East European Research Networks (CEENet) in conjunction with the Macedonian Academic and Research Network (MARNET), co-organised the Second CEENet Workshop on Network Management, in Ohrid, Macedonia, from 15 to 19 June 2000. The Workshop was under general patronage of the Macedonian President Mr. Boris Trajkovski, who gave the opening speech, stressing the political commitment to support development of the IS in Macedonia.

The workshop focussed on an issue of utmost importance in the transition to IS - How to improve and innovate Network Management Practices in order to improve research network availability and efficiency. There were a total of ten sessions in four days.

The financial support was provided by the NATO Scientific Committee in co-ordination with the Macedonian Ministry of Science, and by the Macedonian Telecom (see the corresponding entry in the ESIS II database - Second CEENet Workshop on Network Management, June 15 to 19, 2000, Ohrid, Macedonia)

After some time of latency, the investment activities on the Trans-Balkan Corridor have gained momentum.

On June 13, 2000, in Tirana, Albania, representatives from the American Trade and Development Agency, TDA, signed several contracts for financial grants to Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria for various projects which are part of the SDBI - South Balkan Development Initiative.

The public enterprise "Macedonian Railways" received a grant for the modernisation of its ICT infrastructure supporting the railway network. This project is a part of the regional project for Balkan Communication Corridor, East-West. The modernisation will undoubtedly enhance the capacities of the infrastructure as a chain along the corridor, as well as the potential of "Macedonian Railways" as an alternative telecommunication services provider (see the corresponding entry in the ESIS II database - US-TDA Grant for Modernisation of the ICT infrastructure of Macedonian Railways).