Driven partly by the urge to become a more developed country before ascending into the NATO next year, and partly by the ambition of becoming a Cyber Hub of South Europe, Albania is seriously mulling a nationwide WiMAX network that could start rolling out as soon as in the next six months.
According to sources close to the development, the Government has decided to invite private players for setting up the infrastructure, instead of investing in it directly. However, to support the project in this 11,000 square mile country, the government may trade out assets like WiMax license, tax incentives, and even access to the government buildings.
"The government is still formulating its plans and strategies, but Albania has committed itself to making broadband universal in the country in the belief that a nationwide broadband network will lead to extensive economic enhancements and development." said a noted telecom advisor, who is working as a consultant to the project, requesting anonymity.
The Government is also planning to be the anchor tenant of this network through its e-school imitative, the Education Network of Albania, or, ENEA. This is a centralized organization under the ministry of education that addresses, supervises and controls Albania's education sector. One of ENEA's biggest projects currently is to get the country's 2,700 odd schools connected through a broadband network, which would also be used for e-government and commercial applications.
ENEA plans to invite the private sector to roll out the network, against which it will assure the network owner, the business of the broadband connectivity to all its schools.
"The project has recently started and many alternatives are being worked out; we're not sure which one of all alternatives will be selected. All I can say right now is in the next few months (that is before the NATO 2009 annual meeting) things might be a bit more concrete," said an official from the office of Information Society directly under the Prime Minister of Albania.
To help the country to come out from the "shackles of communism" president George Bush urged the 26 member countries NATO in April this year to include Albania (and Croatia) within its fold.
According to the US, Albania has overcome war and hardship to built peaceful relations with its neighbors, and should be included in the NATO to assure its citizens that NATO members will be at its side when the country is threatened by any other nation.
With the US backing Albania's inclusion, experts expect that Albania could become a NATO member in the Organization's annual meeting in April next year.
However, ENEA also says that the network is crucial for enabling Albania to transition to the new, knowledge-based, network-driven economy. "Presently there's an insufficient networking infrastructure in Albania slowing down what otherwise is a fast-growing economy (about 6% GDP growth per year)," says an internal policy document of ENEA.
Despite the fact that the county was Internet-enabled as far back as the mid-90s, Albania remains the most backward country in the region and in Europe, say experts. "Internet connection is not only slow, but is also expensive," says a country resident.
'The WiMAX network will represent the most valuable national asset and will serve as a platform for a multitude of viable networking solutions ranging from IP voice to IPTV to e-government to commercial mission-critical applications for the industry," says the ENEA document.
As per the document licenses for WiMAX would be offered through an auction process to be conducted in three phases.The first auction to be held early next year will be for Durres-Tirana-Kavaja (Albanian cities) circle. This will be followed with a license for the Shkodra-Elbasan-Vlora circle, and then for the rest of the country.
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