Digital sector is highly important for the Government of Montenegro and, as such, is included in all relevant strategic documents in the country. The further development of the digital infrastructure, particularly in the context of balanced regional development, has been one of the priorities of the Strategy of Digital Transformation of Montenegro 2022-2026.
Based on the previous surveys, all settlements in Montenegro were grouped into three categories: i) black (at least two operators present), ii) grey (one operator present,) and iii) white (no operators present). While more than 80% of the population has good fixed broadband network coverage, the remaining 20% or more than 800 settlements with over 62,000 residents have been uncovered, thus requiring access to modern technologies and improved speeds. The majority of the four largest operators are present in the big cities and some selected settlements in tourist zones or near a city. Even within the next 3 years, the future investment plans of the operators are not so promising, since the operators prefer to stay in urban areas with a high density of households.
The Government of Montenegro has been committed to creating a new infrastructure of Next Generation Access (NGA) through fixed broadband high-capacity networks commonly using fibres in selected grey and white area of Montenegro.
In this context, WBIF allocated a technical assistance grant for the preparation of technical documentation that will be used to build the NGA broadband, primarily in suburban and rural areas of Montenegro. The scope of TA will include examination and analysis of many requirements stemming from multiple different aspects and perspectives of building NGA broadband infrastructure, as well as the preparation of the Environmental & Social Action Plan and tender documentation for works and its supervision.
