September 16 (SeeNews) - Telemach Hrvatska, a unit of Dutch-based multi-play and media provider United Group, said on Thursday it is investing 1.7 billion kuna ($267 million/227 million euro) to build an up-to-date fiber optics network and upgrade its mobile network.
The 10-gigabit optics network that the company is building would be the fastest in Europe, comparable in terms of speed and quality only to the existing network in South Korea, which holds the world record regarding Internet speed, Adrian Jezina, CEO of Telemach's arm in Croatia and Slovenia said in a statement.
United Group entered Croatia in March 2020 when it finished the acquisition of the local business of Swedish telecommunications group Tele2. In July, United Group said it agreed to acquire a 54.31% stake in Croatian fixed internet and pay-TV services provider OT-Optima Telekom [ZSE:OPTE].
In August, Croatia's telecommunications regulator awarded national frequency licences for 5G mobile networks to Telemach Croatia.
"Along with construction of its fixed-line network, Telemach Croatia is intensively working on the upgrade of its exsisting 4G mobile network and introduction of 5G network to provide to all of its users in Croatia the same level of mobile service in the next one year. Following the purchase of a frequency licence for 110 million kuna, Telemach successfully launched its first 5G base stations in Zagreb and Osijek, as the speed of its 5G network reached 1.8 Gbps,” the company said.
Telemach Hrvatska is intensively building its network following to the model of United Group's Vivacom unit in Bulgaira and its unit in Slovenia, which have the fastest mobile networks among the members of the group.
Founded in Serbia and headquartered in Amsterdam, United Group operates in Bosnia, Croatia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia through brands such as SBB, Telemach and United Media, and channels such as SportKlub, Nova TV and N1TV, plus a global OTT service. Last month, it signed a deal to acquire Greek telecoms operator Wind Hellas.
OT-Optima Telekom's shares traded at 4.85 kuna intraday on Thursday on the Zagreb bourse, down 1.02%.
(1 euro=7.498 Croatian kuna)