Bosnian Ministry of Transport and Communications and a consortium made of two companies signed a contract for the procurement of equipment for digital transmission and broadcasting of public RTV services in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is the ground for the digitalisation of the TV signal throughout the country in less than 18 months.

A contract was signed in Sarajevo on Wednesday between the ministry and the Consortium consisting of the Sirius 2010 Banja Luka and the Odasiljaci i veze Zagreb companies.

Minister Edin Forto signed the contract on behalf of the Ministry, and Momcilo Djukic, general manager of the Sirius 2010 Banja Luka company, on behalf of the Consortium.

​​​​​​​​​The digitalisation of the TV signal, agreed upon within the framework of the Geneva Agreement from 2006, which Bosnia and Herzegovina signed, stipulates that the analog TV signal would be turned off by the middle of 2015, which has not yet happened in the country.

After signing the contract, Forto said that Bosnia and Herzegovina is the last country in Europe that does not have a digital TV (DTV) signal.

“After the first phase was launched 10 years ago, Banja Luka, Sarajevo and Mostar are essentially covered by a digital signal, now it's time for the whole of Bosnia and Herzegovina to have it and to finally join the rest of Europe,” said the minister.

“We expect that in about 18 months, which is how long this should last, we will finally release a digital signal and abolish all analog transmitters in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” he added.

Vlatko Drmic, assistant minister, said that the deadline for releasing the digital signal is 512 days.

“We expect that within 512 days the signal will be released and this entire system will be technically taken over and made available to public RTV services and all other television stations in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” said Drmic.

He explained that the tender was often postponed due to objections to the documentation and pointed out that the Consortium that won the tender was the only one with a qualified offer. The value of the equipment purchase is 25.8 million marks, VAT excluded.