On Wednesday, January 19, 2011, Deloitte Croatia presented research results on “Trends in Telecommunications“. The presentation for the key persons of Croatian telecommunications industry took place in the Regent Esplanade hotel in Zagreb. The gathering started with a presentation by Dejan Ljuština, a senior manager in Business Consulting Unit of Deloitte Croatia. Deloitte forecast shows than in 2011 more than a half of computers, sold throughout the globe, will be smart phones, tablets and notebooks, and not PCs. It is expected that numerous processors and operation systems will conquer the market. In the Croatian market, the penetration of tablets has not flourished, yet. As of mobile applications, games and amusement contents are most common, and daily news and weather forecast follow afterwards.

Globally, the investments into LTE technology have been widely announced. This will enable larger capacities of mobile networks. As Deloitte forecast has it, in 2011 social networks will exceed the dream line of a billion unique users, which means almost half of the global Internet users. Thus, the social networks will be of utmost importance for advertising. The given research results underline eGovernment services, which will be generator of GDP rise and society development, since they require investments into infrastructure and ICT solutions. It is necessary to point out that these applications do not necessity mean a supplementary additional channel, but the major one used by citizens, companies and government administration, which can be stimulated smartly.

As a part of the given conference, a Round Table was organized with the topic on future development of telecom sector, not only in Croatia but in the region, too. Besides Dejan Ljuština and the conference moderator Miodrag Šajatović, the editor-in-chief of Lider, the participants of the round table were Gordana Kovačević MSc, the president of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, Ivica Mudrinić, T-Hrvatski Telekom management board president, Mladen Pejković, Vipnet management board president and Davor Majetić, HUP general manager. Gordana Kovačević stressed the huge potential of Croatia for the development of innovative solutions and service in ICT segment, which may make it a smaller version of s Silicon Valley. She underlined the need for investment into eProjects, which will enable the development of Croatia. This requires the provision of law basis and enabling the new business models creation. In addition, M2M communication has become of considerable importance, since according to forecasts for the near future, some 50 billion of interconnected devices will be a reality.

Ivica Mudrinić pointed out that the broadband access development will change the mode in which devices and services are used. The revolution is expected to start when the data transmission unit price drops, and at the application usage increases. This requires the development of infrastructure. Davor Majetić underlined that changes in technology are the major prerequisite to find a good way out of crisis. Such changes will offer better access to information for business society and local self-management units. A common conclusion of the Round Table participants was that the crisis tax was a disadvantage for telecom sector in Croatia. Mladen Pejković believes that such a draw by the government lowered the competitiveness of the telecom sector and disabled new investments. This opinion was supported by Ivica Mudrinić. During the Round Table session, Gordana Kovačević drew the attention to the importance of innovations since they mean a contribution to the prosperity for both the economy and society by improving human life in general. An example for such and approach is eHealth project in Croatia in which Ericsson Nikola Tesla holds a strong position.

Company communications Ericsson Nikola Tesla