Information and communications technology in Kosovo
[4] Kosovo has two authorized mobile network operators and is the only country in the region not having awarded any UMTS license.
Kosovo has neither awarded licenses for fixed wireless access, nor made the 900 and 1800 MHz bands technology neutral.
[8] The infrastructure of ICT sector in Kosovo is mainly built of microwave network, optic and coaxial cable (DOCSIS).
The telecom industry is liberalized and legislation is introduced adopting European Union regulatory principles and promoting competition.
[8] Total of 38 licensed companies provide internet services in Kosovo, 6 of them with direct peering towards international gateways.
[19] In addition, the internet usage is almost equally distributed across majority of age groups and is mostly used by students and employed people.
[20] Due to this conditions all four major telecommunications companies in Kosovo now broadcast digital TV on other mediums.
[21] Due to missing 3G/LTE licenses in Kosovo, and a growing demand for mobile broadband services from subscribers, both telecommunication providers PTK and IPKO turned to Municipal wireless network (Muni Wi-Fi).
Valuable and continuous contributions for the implementation of this project have given: United States Agency for International Development (USAID) offered throughout their program Kosovo Private Enterprise Program, Norwegian government offered through Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Norwegian embassy respectively, Cisco Systems International BV, and University of Prishtina which have offered adequate space within the buildings of Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty.
[10] The structure of the ICT market in Kosovo is diverse in the variety of activities, sales being the main activity[26] 62 percent of the ICT companies have reported to import goods for retail, meanwhile their exports are minimal and their market share growth is seen to be within Kosovo, and could reach as far as North Macedonia and Albania.
This list is a result of a survey conducted by USAID, Kosovo Private Enterprise Program with 829 ICT companies.
The number of ICT graduates grows each year and the leader in providing the needed skills to the industry is the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Pristina.
Some of the most important legislative acts that have influenced the progress of the sector are:[7] Law on Telecommunications adopted by the Assembly and promulgated by UNMIK, Regulation 2003/16,recognizes the need to improve the telecommunications sector of Kosovo, by establishing an independent regulatory agency responsible for licensing and supervising the providers of telecommunications services in Kosovo, encouraging the private sector participation and competition in the provision of services; setting standards for all service providers in Kosovo, and, establishing provisions for consumer protection.
[55] The labor force in the ICT sector is dominated by men with women comprising a marginal portion (although more significant in larger companies).
The rest are fairly evenly spread out in the regional centers: Peja, Prizren, Gjilan, Gjakova, Podujeva, and Ferizaj.
[26] Over the years there have been a number of open source organizations including Albanian Linux user group (AlbaLinux).
FLOSSK began in March 2009 at the initiative of James Michael DuPont as a result of the desire to organize a conference on free and open software.
After six difficult months and with the help of many supporters, FLOSSK organized the first conference of free and open software in Kosovo in August 2009.
From the beginning, FLOSSK members and the general public learned about Linux operating system, FLOSS programs for solving everyday problems, map creation using OpenStreetMap, and met free software movement figures from around the world.
The conference is organised by Free/Libre Open Source Software Kosova (FLOSSK), Kosovo Association of Information and Communication Technology, Ipko Foundation and Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the University of Prishtina.
[57] A case study on ICT training in Kosovo performed by CISCO Networking Academy (NetAcad) states that the educated and experienced workforce as a whole is searching higher salaries and better working conditions abroad.
If graduates are not experienced, they stay for a while in Kosovo and when they have gained experience they start searching opportunities for migration.
This includes network architecture design, planning, consulting, implementation, integration and testing with a strong expertise on mobile backhauling.
3CIS also provides on-site consulting ser- vices as well as manages and coordinates the activities in a multi-vendor environment during the life-cycle of the complete project.
Anoniem is the highest-profile job to date for SPRIGS, which was founded in late 2010, by a Dutch entrepreneur, and this job was trusted to a half-dozen young Kosovar Albanian programmers, who work at computers at a repurposed apartment that now houses the technical brain trust of this IT outsourcing company.
