Bosnia and Herzegovina selects DVB-T2 providers for MUX A
July 24, 2023
From Branislav Pekic in Rome
The Ministry of Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina has selected the companies that will provide the DVB-T2 equipment for national DTT multiplex MUX A that will carry the TV channels of the country’s public broadcasters.
A consortium, consisting of local company Sirius 2000 and Croatia’s Odašiljači i veze (OiV) was selected as the best bidder, with its bid worth BAM 25.6 million (€11.3m).
The only other bidder was a consortium led by Sarajevo-based Mibo Komunikacije from Sarajevo, and consisting of Roaming Networks; Unis Telekomunikacije Mostar and Flame Data Technologies from Romania, which submitted a bid that was slightly lower but did not meet all the requirements.
Commenting on the awarding of the contract, the Minister of Communications and Transport of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Edin Forto, emphasized that the successful completion of the public procurement “is essential for the digitisation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is almost a decade behind other European countries”.
According to the 2006 framework Geneva Agreement, Bosnia and Herzegovina was supposed to have switched off analogue TV by mid-June 2015, which did not happen.
Currently, the country has two active DTT multiplexes.
MUX A, reserved for public broadcasters, has only been partially implemented, with transmitters installed in three cities (Sarajevo, Banja Luka and Mostar) by the end of 20116.
However, the further rollout was stopped due to the decision to switch from DVB-T to DVB-T2 technology.
Implementation of the second multiplex (MUX D), reserved for commercial TV channels, has been much faster, with 25 transmitters installed and coverage of all nine digital zones by DTT network operator Dasto Semtel.