Serbia's Telecommunications Industry Revenue Rises 9.0% to 1.6 Bln Euro in 2008

The telecommunications industry generated 4.87% of Serbia’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008, 15% up from a year earlier, RATEL said in a statement made available to SeeNews on Thursday.

Mobile telephony accounted for 61% of the industry's total revenue, while fixed telephony contributed 25%, RATEL's Executive Director Milan Jankovic said in the statement.

The number of subscribers of third-generation telecommunication services in Serbia tripled to 750,026 in 2008. Cable services of radio and television broadcasters were delivered by 74 providers which posted a revenue of 60.7 million euro in 2008. The number of radio and television programme subscribers grew 11% to 860,787 in 2008.

There are 197 registered Internet providers in Serbia, while the number of Internet subscribers is 1.6 million. Internet providers posted a combined 107.6 million euro in 2008 revenue.

State-owned Telekom Srbija is the single provider of fixed-line services in the country of some 10 million people. It also controls some 70% of the domestic wireless services market through its unit Mobile Telephony Serbia.

Serbia is expected to open a tender for a second domestic fixed-line operator in the second half of the year.

($=0.6784 euro)