At the invitation of the Agency for Electronic Communications of the Republic of North Macedonia (AEK), representatives of the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services (RATEL) participated in the International Regulatory Conference „Bridging the Gap, Enter the New Era“ (IRC 2024) held on May 14 and 15, 2024 in Ohrid, where, under the ausipces of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was celebrated as well.

The gathering was attended by the representatives of NRAs of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Albania, North Macedonia and other, representatives of state institutions of North Macedonia, of telecommunications companies and other key players in the electronic communications market, representatives of the ITU, BEREC and Cullen International. The working part of the conference was divided in three sessions with the following topics: Spectrum management and monitoring, Cybersecurity, Broadband access and regulatory issues.

During the first session, RATEL’s representative presented radio frequency spectrum monitoring system in the Republic of Serbia, RATEL’s organizational chart, RF spectrum monitoring system infrastructure, two phases of the monitoring system project, two equipment manufacturers and future development plans. In addition, it was discussed about the EU member states’ experience regarding current challenges such as: priority 5G network bands, bands used for private local networks in Europe and three license models within 5G band, followed by regulators’ experience regarding DAB replanning and implementation.

The second session was about the 5G network cybersecurity, on how to improve the cybersecurity efficiency and which measures to take to fight cyber crime, as well as about techniques for hacker attack identification, whereas at the third session the results of broadband access examination, experience in shutting down 3G technology (Makedonski Telekom) and other topics regarding broadband access were discussed.

Within IRC2024 a special round table session named „Radiofrequency Coordination for the Update of the Development of the Regional Agreements for DAB“ was held, where further steps related to the coordination processes were agreed. The session was attended by the representatives of administrations/regulators of North Macedonia, Greece, Albania, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.

Also, an NRA meeting themed around the exchange of experience in the area of user protection was held. At this session, RATEL’s representative delivered a topic titled „Out-of-court dispute settlement before the Regulatory Authority for Electronic Communications and Postal Services“. The attendees were acquainted with the new regulatory frame in the Republic of Serbia in the area of electronic communications, as well as the current practice of acting upon the end-users’ requests pertaining to various issues addressed to regulators. The meeting also served as a platform for the exchange of experience in terms of applying procedures and decisions on the merits.