Montenegro: Mobile Telecoms Market Overview
Promonte
Promonte’s activity began in November 1995 when PTT of Montenegro and European Telecom Luxembourg signed a contract on establishing a limited liability company in the aim of obtaining a mobile telephony licence in Montenegro. In January 1996 the consortium obtained a 20-year concession for establishing a GSM 900 mobile network in Montenegro. Promonte was founded in January and the network’s first call was made on 10 July 1996.
On the 11 August 2004 Telenor completed its acquisition making it the 100 percent owner of the mobile operator.
In June 2007 Promonte when live with a new 3G 2100 network which utilises the HSPA standards, allowing it to offer high-speed data services to its customers.
T-Mobile
MoNet’s GSM 900 network went live on 1 July 2000 and became an incorporated limited liability company on 1 August 2000. T-Mobile entered the Montenegrin market in 2006 through the acquisition of MoNet GSM mobile provider.
T-Mobile Montenegro (T-Mobile Crna Gora) is fully owned by T-Crnogorski Telekom, which is itself owned by Magyar Telekom, a company majority owned by Deutsche Telekom. Although the acquisition by Magyar Telekom was done in 2005, it was not until 26 September 2006 that the MoNet GSM operator was renamed to T-Mobile Montenegro.
T-Mobile has 188 active base transceiver stations, which cover all urban and suburban areas, major highway routes, and tourist centers; all this amounts to 99 percent coverage Montenegro’s territory. T-Mobile has roaming agreements with 172 GSM and 32 GPRS providers.
The company currently holds around 32.9 percent of the Montenegrin market and uses GSM 900, GPRS, and EDGE technologies.
m:tel
m:tel is a joint telecommunications venture by Telekom Srbija (51 percent) and Ogalar BV (49 percent). It obtained a licence for both a GSM and a UMTS network on 9 May 2007 and officially launched business on 9 July 2007.
By mid-November 2007 m:tel had 80 percent coverage of Montenegro and reached 91 percent of the total population.
By 2Q 2008 m:tel had 340,000 subscribers, giving it 26.5 percent market share.