Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Rasim Ljajić told Tanjug Today that the inter-state agreement on reducing roaming charges inked by Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Macedonia will come into force on June 30.

Ljajić said that the goal is not to abolish roaming charges, rather to reduce them and gradually equal the roaming prices in the region with the ones in the EU, in line with EU directives.

What lies ahead are the talks with mobile network operators on the manner in which the prices may be reduced, because we need to align with the EU directive on roaming charges given that our prices of the Internet, SMS messages and calls are a few times higher than the ones in the EU countries, the minister said.

Technical negotiations on the details related to the implementation of this agreement are ahead of us, and we need to define the dynamics of lowering the price of roaming services, due to the fact that mobile operators suggest that the reduction in roaming charges in the first year should be less because they have already prepared the financial plans for this year, and that in the following years this price reduction should be proportionally larger, explained Ljajić and noted that the proposals of regulators are different in all countries.

According to him, the details are still to be defined. We will try to reach a compromise solution that mobile operators are not a priori against.

Anyhow, the roaming prices will be lower in these four countries as of June 30, said Ljajić.
Ljajić also announced that the analog TV signal will be switched off in the entire territory of Serbia as of June 7.

As many as 97.8 percent of Serbian citizens will receive the digital signal, which is more than the envisaged 95 percent, said Ljajić, noting that the whole process will be finished before June 17, which is the deadline set by the international community.