- Upgrade and expansion of 4G network in deal worth €7.5m.
HT Mostar, the Bosnia and Herzegovina telecoms provider in which Croatia’s Hrvatski Telekom (HT) holds a minority stake, turned again to longstanding partner Ericsson Nikola Tesla (ENT), Ericsson’s Croatian affiliate, this time to complete the upgrade and expansion of its LTE radio access network (RAN).
Little detail was provided in the brief official statement, although mention was made of “contracts” — presumably covering different aspects of LTE work — that are worth a combined total of HRK 57m (€7.5m).
“ With our long-term reliable partner Ericsson Nikola Tesla, we have contracted the final phase of the 4G/4G+ mobile network implementation project while respecting the highest security standards. Based on these contracts, we will increase coverage and capacity as well as provide our users with higher speeds and a better user experience on the road to 5G. ”
Vilim Primorac, President, HT Mostar.
Best buddies
HT Mostar and ENT cooperate on a wide range of network elements. In March 2022, ENT announced a deal worth more than HRK 16m to focus on providing support for the maintenance of Ericsson solutions in fixed and mobile networks until the end of 2023. That followed a contract award worth more than HRK 11m in February 2022, related to “management of Ericsson solutions, software, and licenses in the network of HT Mostar” (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #111).
Prior to that, in mid‑2021, HT Mostar looked to ENT for upgrades in its IP multimedia subsystem, network performance management, signalling, and roaming technologies. That deal was valued at about HRK 7.5m (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #104).
ENT also has a longstanding relationship with Croatia’s HT, where it enjoys “exclusive” supplier status of both 5G RAN equipment and microwave transport technology until at least 2024 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #95 and #101). Moreover, ENT is responsible for providing the Croatian operator with network construction and maintenance services until 2023 (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #92, #98, and passim).
ENT’s engagement with the Group also extends to HT-controlled Crnogorski Telekom (CT) in Montenegro. In March 2022, CT became the first operator in the country to launch a 5G service after it used ENT kit to deploy a dynamic spectrum sharing‑based network in the capital Podgorica (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #106, #114, and #117). As of October 2022, CT’s 5G network was active in 18 cities across the country, covering close to 70% of the Montenegrin population, according to the operator.
