As promised, we keep informing you about the interesting discussions from the recently held conference “Telecommunications in Montenegro – Contribution of Digital Economy to Society Development in Montenegro”, organized by AmCham Montenegro, with the support of three mobile operators: Crnogorski Telekom, Telenor and m:tel. Participants in the first panel discussion entitled “Digital Economy and Society Development” were: Mr. Vladimir Lučić, CEO of m:tel, Ms. Vanja Lazarević from the Ministry of Information Society and Telecommunications, Mr. Dejan Cvetković, Regional Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft and Mr. Owe Fredhaim the Chairman Management Board of Telenor Montenegro.

The panel was open with the discussion about the meaning of the very term “digital“. The participants agreed that there are many more opportunities for using the word, since the next wave which is about to happen is being referred to as the “internet of things“, according to Mr. Cvetković. In short, this means that we will control various devices via their IP addresses in order to complete certain tasks, shopping for example.

“There is a whole new wave of digitalization outside computers and smartphones, the digitalization of devices, and it is very exciting!“, said Mr. Cvetković.

Naturally, the overall digitalization brings certain concerns, so the next logical question would be: are citizens of Montenegro ready for this era of digitalization? According to Ms. Lazarević from the Ministry of Information Society and Telecommunications, people are open to modernization of telecommunication sector and the services this can provide. She states that there is no room for fear of digitalized Montenegro. Development of digital economy in Montenegro should happen continuously, step by step.

Ms. Vanja Lazarević speaking at the panel “Digital Economy and Society Development”

With respect to the perception of “digital” 15 years ago and nowadays, Mr. Lučić explained that digital was a luxury earlier, but now it is considered a commodity.

“There is a group of people who believe that “digital” is a commodity now, but it has huge potential for growth that can result in the increase of GDP of a country etc.“, said Mr. Lučić.

There are different perspectives in defining the ICT sector, whether it is a road, referring to the infrastructure or the trip, referring to the services on top. Mr. Fredheim argues that we still need the road for the trip and the telco operator are building that road. However, telco’s will also engage in building the services, since both are important for the development of Montenegrin society. Of course, like in any industry, there are certain challenges in the business environment. Montenegrin priority should now be to work on creating a predictable future, through a stable legal and regulatory framework. In this manner operators as commercial companies will see their interest in further developing their businesses and investing in Montenegro.

“We need to see a logical shift in this crossroad“, said Mr. Fredheim.

Mr. Cvetković reminded the audience that infrastructure is a hard industry or the foundation, which consists of hardware. Therefore, it requires massive investments in time, people and money. It is only natural that these kind of investments should provide an adequate return on investments, in order to stay profitable. Keeping in mind the duration of this process, it is crucial for the Government to provide predictability and stability of policies for companies investing in Montenegro.

As for the contribution in taxes that telco operators provide for the country, they are not to be disregarded. However, the Government must understand that the ecosystem of this industry has changed. In the past years, almost 50% of mobile operators’ revenues in Montenegro came from tourist visiting Montenegro, but this time has long passed. The roaming prices are much lower now, the OTT players are creating disloyal competition, all of which suggests that telco industry needs new, modern regulation.

Mr. Owe Fredhaim speaking at the panel “Digital Economy and Society Development”

“All three players in Montenegro are actively building 4G, the backbone, in order to provide the mobile broadband highway. I would like us to be ambitious on behalf of this sector in Montenegro, to think how we can innovate locally here.” said Mr. Fredheim.

The participants also concluded that the ICT business will grow extremely on the side of service applications. Words of encouragements were heard for small entrepreneur companies to suggest new services and that telco companies will embrace these innovations.

In the end, Mr. Cvetković concluded that Montenegro as a small country should focus on strengthening its core competencies, such as tourism. We live in the cyber-world, meaning that we should give up on old, analogue things. The discussion ended with the burning topic of cross border data transfer, which is essential to happen in the country, according to Mr. Cvetković, especially bearing in mind Montenegro’s EU accession path.

Next panel elaborated on the topic “Trends in Telecommunication Regulatory Environment”. You can read more about the discussion in our next blog post!