Information and communication technology (ICT) in Kosovo has experienced a remarkable development since 1999. From being almost non-existent 10 years ago, Kosovar companies in the information technology (IT) domain offer today wide range of ICT services to their customers both local as well as to foreign companies. Kosovo has the youngest population in Europe, with advanced knowledge in ICT.

Today, public and private education institutions in the IT field, through certified learning curricula by companies such as CISCO and Microsoft, provide education to thousands of young Kosovars while the demand for this form of training is still rising.

Kosovo has two authorized mobile network operators and is the only country in the region not having awarded any UMTS license. Kosovo has neither awarded licenses for fixed wireless access, nor made the 900 and 1800 MHz bands technology neutral. Currently around 1,200,000 customers of "Vala" Post and Telecom of Kosovo (PTK). As of March 2007 the second GSM license granted to IPKO – Telekom Slovenije. Currently IPKO has over 1,000,000 users. Following the Brussels Agreement, Kosovo has its own telephone dialing code: +383. Before this assignment, network operators in Kosovo used either +377 (Monaco) or +386 (Slovenia). All other codes were to have been superseded by the new code on 15 January 2017, but some are still in use.

The infrastructure of ICT sector in Kosovo is mainly built of microwave network, optic and coaxial cable (DOCSIS). The telecom industry is liberalized and legislation is introduced adopting European Union regulatory principles and promoting competition. Some of the main internet providers are PTK, IPKO, Kujtesa and Artmotion.

History First ICT companies in Kosovo can be found as early 1984, these companies where mainly focused on radio telecommunication and audio-video systems, while in early and mid '90s more companies were created, mainly specializing in personal computer sales. ICT industry in Kosovo boomed after 1999 with a lot of new companies being created, among which IPKO which now one of the major telecommunication providers and one of the biggest foreign investments in Kosovo.

Telecommunications

According to Regulatory Authority of Electronics and Postal Communication 2011 report, 86 telecommunication licenses have been issued since 2004. Licenses Number Internet Service Providers 38 Value-Added Services 29 International Telecommunication Services 6 International Telecommunication Peering 6 Fixed Telephony Services 3 Mobile Telephony Services - GSM 2 MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) 2

Mobile Telephony In 2010, 74 percent of the population was subscribed to mobile phone services, or a total number of 1,537,164 In 2007, PTK reported growth of subscribers from 300,000 to 800,000 in less than a year. In 2006, the number was 562,000.

You are required to show your ID to get a Sim card and pre-paid can be bought for 5 euros. There are many shops selling used mobile phones and sim unlocking services.

Two licensed Mobile network operators offer their services in competition with two MVNOs. The market, however, remains concentrated with the incumbent's mobile subsidiary controlling over 65% of the market. Mobile broadband services are not available as no UMTS licenses have been awarded. So far, there are no plans to carry out the re-farming of 900/1800 MHz bands or assign frequency spectrum for mobile broadband.

Name Date Type Validity PTK SH.a/Vala (+377 Monaco prefix) 3G and 4G LTE 30/07/2004 GSM 900/1800 MHz 15 Years IPKO Telecommunications LLC (+386 Slovenia prefix) 3G active 06/03/2007 GSM 900/1800 MHz 15 Years Dukagjini Telecommunications sh.a. (D3 Mobile) 24/06/2008 MVNO 15 Years Dardaphone.net LLC (Z Mobile) 12/06/2008 MVNO 15 Years

There are three virtual operators : D3 Mobile (virtual operator)-043 prefix Z Mobile (virtual operator)-045 prefix Zog Mobile (Powered by IPKO)-043 prefix

Fixed Telephony

Fixed telephony penetration rate is among the lowest in Europe about 5 lines per 100 inhabitants in 2011, in contrast with neighboring countries and European Union countries where penetration rates are 25% and 40% respectfully.

There are currently three licensed Fixed Telephony providers in Kosovo:

PTK IPKO KONET (leased lines)

PTK is by far the leading provider with market share of 94.4%, IPKO has only 5.6%. Number of subscribers dropped in 2011 to 86,014 from 88,372 in 2010, marking a drop of 2,358 or 2.67% of subscriber base.

Dialing Code After the breakup of Yugoslavia, with dialing code 38, Kosovo used the Serbian dialing code, 381 for new and existing landlines. As mobile networks were introduced, PTK adopted the code 377 (Monaco) and IPKO adopted the code 386 (Slovenia). This situation resulted in the highly unusual simultaneous use of three international dialing codes.

In September 2012 the Assembly of Kosovo approved a resolution on replacing the various dialing codes in use with the Albanian country code 355. While this initiative draw a lot of media attention, it never saw the light of day.

In January 2016 after ongoing political discussions between Kosovo and Serbia, it was agreed that Kosovo would get its own country code: 383. This code is available for all mobile and fixed-line operators, all of whom were using other international telecom country code. The code 383 has now been formally assigned, and is in the process of adoption. This code was to have replaced all former codes on 15 January 2017, but the transition has yet to be complete.

Internet Total of 38 licensed companies provide internet services in Kosovo, 6 of them with direct peering towards international gateways. Number of technologies are used to provide internet to end users, most popular being the cable DOCSIS technology with 68.95% of the market, followed by 25.43% xDSL and 5.62% other technologies like FTTX and wireless.

Technology % Cable/DOCSIS 68.95% xDSL 25.43% Wireless 4.57% FTTx 0.64% Other 0.41%

In contrast with other countries, majority of market share is owned by private operators, with a total of 74.57%. The biggest operator being IPKO with 51.21% followed by Kujtesa with 19.08% and PTK with 25.43%.

Operator Technology Users (%) IPKO DOCSIS 73,354 51.21% PTK xDSL 36,432 25.43% Kujtesa DOCSIS 27,331 19.08%

Others include: Artmotion ArdiNet OrangeNet I.T.S. ComNet NegeNet Telekom Srbija

Internet Penetration Internet penetration in Kosovo is 96%. Laptops are the most frequent device found in almost half of the Kosovo households (48%), followed by a computer (39%). On average, households in Kosovo have a 20 Mbps download and 6 upload internet speed.

Vast majority of the Kosovo population (81%) use the internet every day, and the internet is used by the absolute majority (96%) of the Kosovo population at least at some occasion. In addition, the internet usage is almost equally distributed across majority of age groups and is mostly used by students and employed people.

Internet is used three and a half hours daily on average by the Kosovo citizens. Incomparably, mobile phones are the most frequent device (73%) used to access the internet.

A very important discovery of the research is that 93% of Kosovo citizens use the internet for communication. All other reasons of usage are drastically lower compared to the communication. Consequently, as well as related to the reasons why the internet is used mostly in terms of applications and webpages visited, communication platforms are used the most.

The vast majority of Kosovo citizens (98%) possess a mobile phone, and close to half of them (43%) possesses internet subscription on their phone.

Digital Television Digital television transition is still an ongoing process in Kosovo, limiting the analog television broadcast domain to only three national channels. Due to this conditions all four major telecommunications companies in Kosovo now broadcast digital TV on other mediums. While IPKO and Kujtesa have chosen to reuse the existing coaxial network, PTK which offers xDSL services went for IPTV, Artomotion offers digital TV to selected users in Pristina. IPKO has recently launched an IPTV solution, tailored towards mobile customers. Currently platform is available in iOS, Android and via a web browser.

Metro WiFi

Due to missing 3G/LTE licenses in Kosovo, and a growing demand for mobile broadband services from subscribers, both telecommunication providers PTK and IPKO turned to Municipal wireless network (Muni Wi-Fi). Both operators cover the majority of cities around Kosovo and touristic destinations like Prekaz and Brezovica, with more cities to be covered later.

Kosovo Internet Exchange Point

The Internet Exchange Point (KOSIX), the first of its kind in Kosovo, started operating on 23 June 2011, and it operates as a functional unit within Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). Its function is to provide the ISPs operating in Kosovo, an Internet exchange point for local traffic exchange. Valuable and continuous contributions for the implementation of this project have given: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) offered throughout their program Kosovo Private Enterprise Program, Norwegian government offered through Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian embassy respectively, Cisco Systems International BV, and University of Prishtina which have offered adequate space within the buildings of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty.

Currently four national ISPs are interconnected via KOSIX, there is no cost for peering.

ISP Name AS Number PTK AS8661 IPKO AS21246 KUJTESA AS29170 ARTMOTION AS33983 TELKOS AS206262

Economical aspects

ICT in Kosovo consists of relatively young companies (most of them incorporated after 1999) and with predominantly small companies with less than 20 employees. 53.8 percent of ICT companies are individual business while limited Liability Company (28.6 percent). Businesses specializing in maintenance and manufacturing are purely individual, while other sub-sectors are served by a mix of individual and LLC businesses. Other forms of incorporation are rare, with 4.4 percent being Limited Partnership, and 2.2 percent Joint-Stock Company. The rest (5.5) are either public companies or have the unusual status of NGOs. Currently, the ICT companies are determined to grow and prosper within the Kosovo market, while very few companies seek expansion in markets outside Kosovo.

According to TRA report, ICT industry generated €239,518,037.36, 83.19 of which is generated by Mobile network operator, 8.37% from Fix telephony operators, 7.77% from Internet service providers and 0.68% from leased lines.

Market

The structure of the ICT market in Kosovo is diverse in the variety of activities, sales being the main activity 62 percent of the ICT companies have reported to import goods for retail, meanwhile their exports are minimal and their market share growth is seen to be within Kosovo, and could reach as far as North Macedonia and Albania. The average annual turnover in the sector is 250,000 euros, with an increasing number of companies reporting turnovers in millions of euros.

Sales - 33% Retail Sales - 18.7% Maintenance and Repair - 17.6% Software Development - 13.2% Consulting - 7.7 ISP - 7.7% Training - 5.5% Engineering Services - 4.4%

Ownership

The ICT sector is dominated by domestic firms. According to the survey, 80.2 percent of the respondents represented companies that are 100% domestically owned. Only 6.6 percent of the companies are entirely owned by foreigners. Mixed ownership is rare (3.3 percent). The other 3.3 percent that answered "Other" were either mostly owned by foreign companies or public/state-owned companies. Foreign investors are mostly present in the sub-sectors: consulting, information services, vendors, manufacturing/assembling, and retail.

Size and Employment