1. Federal Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications of Yugoslavia Dr Dusan Jokanovic Assistant Minister State of the Information and Telecommunication Sector in FR Yugoslavia

2. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Lisbon European Council March 2000 “The Union has today set itself a new strategic goal for the next decade: to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. “

3. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Regional Policy Making Success for the development of the Information Society in South-East Europe (SEEurope) will require a similar level of commitment.

4. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Contents: 1.The Current State of IT Sector in FR Yugoslavia, Serbia  Present situation  Impediments 2.Recent Government Initiatives  Legislative and Institutional Framework  Stability Pact e-SE Europe 3.Yugoslav Informatics Association Actions 4.Next Steps

5. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 New Economy and Technology Convergence Telecommunications Internet E-business Electronic media

6. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Some General Remarks “ More then ten years of economic crisis, international isolation and stagnation reversed the country’s overall economic development and had a devastating impact on its telecom and ICT sectors.” “The current sisuation of Yugoslav Telecom and ITC sector can be described as way behind the highly developed industrial nations, but still comparable to that of the countries in the Region.”

7. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 (1) State of Telecomm Sector  Serbia’s population of 10 million people  One fixed telephony operator (Telecom Serbia, digitalization of infrastructure over 50%)  Two mobile telephony operators (Telecom Serbia, Mobtel, over 1.5 million subscribers)  Monopoly on fixed telephone service until 2005  Potential third mobile telephony operator  Unbalanced tariffs (domestic and international)

8. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 (2) State of Internet Sector  Serbia’s population of 10 million people  5 big Internet Service Providers (50 medium and small)  500 000 Internet users  Academic Internet Network (project sponsored by UNESCO)  Poor access network  Not resolved the problem of VoIP (voice over IP)

9. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 (3) State of e-Busines Sector  4000 companies operate company web site (mostly for advertising only)  There are few e-banks offering financial services over Internet  There are several thousand customers using e- commerce services  The payment Operations Act introduces e-transactions; Yugoslav Central Bank have launched a project of unique computer network for all participants in the country’s payment operations with appropriate protection mechanism

10. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 State of e-Business Sector (cont.)  Underdeveloped telecommunication infrastructure  Low Internet penetration  Lack of capital  A small number of credit pay cards used in the country

11. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 (4) State of Electonic Media Sector  Explosion of electronic media services and companies  Over 700 radio and 100 TV stations.  Expansion of Cable Distribution Operators  Until now the lack of proper regulative caused chaos in radio spectrum management

12. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Recent Government Initiatives (domestic) 1. Legal framework New Radio-broadcasting Act has been adopted New Telecommunication Act has been adopted Electronic Signature Act has been drafted 2. Institutions Broadcasting Regulatory Agency to be established Telecommunication Regulatory Agency to be established very soon (in its framework Internet issues will be dealt with)

13. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Recent Government Initiatives (international) Turning Southeastern European countries into information societies is the ambitious but feasible goal.

14. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Recent Government Initiatives (international) In Belgrade on 29. October 2002. Ministers of seven countries signed the “Electronic Southeastern Europe Agenda for the Development of Information Society Albania, BiH, Croatia, Macedonia, Moldova and Yugoslavia

15. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Recent Government Initiatives (international) GOAL: to bring these countries on the same level with EU and accession countries in what is a strategic component of modern economic development. Closing this gap in the domain of legislative and policy framework will be supported by bilateral donors and international organizations

16. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Recent Government Initiatives (international) Some of the commitments:  Adoption of policy and strategy for the Information Society  Adoption and implementation of Legal Infrastructure for Information Society  Establishment of regional cooperation and national implementation mechanisms  Promotion of Information Society for Development

17. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Yugoslav Informatics Association Initiatives Established 15 years ago Connect all relevant institutions (private and public) and individuals relevant to IT sector Aims at supporting the development of IT sector Actions: annual conference, monthly journal, occasional events

18. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Yugoslav Informatics Association Initiatives Annual Contest for the best endeavor in the field of Informatics related to:  Business  Education  Medicine  Government  Management  Service -- Building National and Regional IT brands --

19. ITC Roundtable Vilnius 2002 Next immediate steps A lot of work, engagement of our own human power according to our Strategic Plan for IT Development but with a help of international institutions such as: CEPT, EBRD, ITU and ITC/UNCTAD WTO and regional networking!

20. Federal Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications of Yugoslavia Dr Dusan P. Jokanovic Assistant Minister Email: jokanovic@ieee.org Thank you !!