Internet in Serbia

=History=

Officially, it is said that Internet in Serbia started in February 1996 when national academic network went online with help of BeotelNet ISP. However, the first ISP to start commercially offering services to public was EUnet Yugoslavia, few months afterwards.

Dial-up was the only way to reach Internet until early 2000s, when several ISP's started to offer wireless access via unlicenced spectrum. The equipment required on customers' side was extremely expensive for widespread use (200 EUR which was more than official average sallary in Serbia at that time), so this way of connection became popular only in limited urban areas.

Situation changed in 2002 when SBB - Serbia Broadband, then growing cable operator, approached subscribers with cable Internet option of tarrif based 128 Kb/s access.

No sooner than 2005 national incumbent Telekom Srbija started with ADSL service.

Internet in Serbia today

tatistics

According to the last official survey of Internet usage in Serbia (2007) [ [http://webrzs.statserb.sr.gov.yu/axd/en/dokumenti/ict/2007/ICT_2007_saopstenje_knjiga.pdf Internet usage survey 2007, Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia] ] , conducted by Serbian Statistical Office, 26,3% households have Internet access. By access type, division is the following:
* Dial-up (PSTN and ISDN): 75,6%
* Mobile access (Wap, GPRS): 16,1%
* Cable Internet: 15,6%
* (A)DSL: 12,1%
* Other: 3,0%It is believed that "Mobile access" includes wireless access as well. It is likely so, since Statistical Office of Serbia already has history of absurdness in this area of research - in previous, 2006 Internet usage survey, there was no cable Internet in questionnaire so this type of access came under "modem access", together with dial-up, although at that time there was nearly two times more cable Internet subscribers than ADSL ones [ [http://www.bos.org.yu/cepit/materijali/Internet_PC_penetration_in_Serbia2006.pdf Research, Internet and PC Penetration in Serbia 2006, Belgrade Open School] ] [ [http://www.ratel.org.rs/index.php?page=telekomunikacije&target=internet&item=14&get_treerot=6&lang=eng Distribution of number of users by access technology 2004-2006, Serbian Telecommunication Agency] ] . Some believe that this was done intentionally in both cases, since Serbian authorities struggle to present Telekom Srbija and its ADSL as driving force of broadband Internet in Serbia.

International links

For years, national incumbent Telekom Srbija had the monopoly for international links. Only 2xSTM-1 microwave link was available through VeratNet ISP, however since country's needs exceedes that capacity by 50 times their influence on wholesale is marginal so Telekom Srbija still manages to dictate pricing in this area. Currently, wholesale price for 1 Mb/s is cca 220 EUR (compared to 25 EUR in neighbouring countries with open market), which explains small bandwidths that subscribers get on basic broadband packages.

In January 2008, Serbia Broadband managed to establish physical connection on Serbian-Romanian border with one of the carriers, making it first alternative fiber crossing from Serbia. Allegedly SBB leased one STM-16 to Internet exchange in Frankfurt, but still not using it. Although SBB had no public statement on this topic, the unofficial information that can be found on various forums is that Serbian Telecommunication Agency still denies, without explanation, to issue them the license for its use.

Broadband access

Cable is provided by several providers (mostly in larger cities) and ADSL is available through a number of ISPs, all using the services of Telekom Srbija. Wireless access is also available in every part of Serbia.

ADSL providers:
* Beocity
* BeotelNet
* BitsYU
* EUnet
* MadNet
* Neobee
* SezamPro
* Telekom Srbija
* Verat
* YUBC
* Panline

ADSL flat rate options:
* 512/64 kbit/s from 16€
* 1024/128 kbit/s from 22€
* 1536/192 kbit/s from 31€

Due to late introduction of ADSL in Serbia and rapid advancement of cable and Wi-Fi technologies that enabled quick and inexpensive expansion of infrastructure, those two technologies are widely used in Serbia for broadband access.

Prices vary in different parts of Serbia, and depending on type of services offered.

Wireless providers:
* Media Works in Belgrade
* MadNet in Belgrade, Pancevo, Novi Sad, Vrsac, Pozarevac, Smederevo, Kovin...
* VeratNet in Belgrade
* BeotelNet in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nish
* [http://www.teamnet.rs TeamNET] in Novi Sad, B. Palanka, Backi Jarak, Becej, Begec, Beocin, Cenej, Cerevic, Djurdjevo, Futog, Gospodjinci, Kisac, Ravno Selo, Sirig, Srbobran, Stepanovicevo, Temerin, Turija, Veternik, Zabalj, Zmajevo, ...
* Ninet in Nish, Leskovac, Pirot
* Suonline in Subotica
* NoviSadNetwork in Novi Sad, Veternik, Futog, Beocin, Zabalj, Rumenka, Kisac, Mosorin
* Neobee.net in Novi Sad
* Panline in Novi Sad, Temerin, Beocin, Beocin selo, Futog, Rumenka, Kikinda, Mokrin, Banatska Topola, Rusko selo, Melenci, Djurdjevo...
* Evizo in Pozarevac, Kostolac, Smederevo
* Axpan in Zabalj, Gospodjinci, Djurdjevo, Curug, Mosorin

Cable service providers:
* SBB - Serbia Broadband
* Radijus Vektor
* PTT
* Avcom
* IKOM

References

External links

* [http://www.ratel.org.rs/index.php?page=home&lang=eng Serbian Telecommunication Agency (eng)]
* [http://www.mtid.sr.gov.yu Serbian Ministry for Telecommunications and Information Society (ser)]