1. International Symposium on Sustainable Development, June 9-10 2009, Sarajevo 450 Telecommunication Sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina: An Overview Telecommunication, Regulation & Sustainable Development Oğuzhan ÖZALTIN Ph.D. Student, Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Public Administration, Isparta / TURKEY, oguzhan@oguzhanozaltin.com Aykut SEZGĐN Research Assistant, Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Economics, Isparta / TURKEY, asezgin@iibf.sdu.edu.tr Onur DEMĐREL Research Assistant, Süleyman Demirel University, Department of Economics, Isparta / TURKEY, onurdemirel@yahoo.com Abstract: The aim of the study is to investigate the telecommunication sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina with respect to the liberalisation process mentioned by the Public Governance Committee of the OECD and the sustainable development goals introduced by the World Bank. It is analyzed that how telecommunication sector has been regulated in the post-war period, the sectoral structure, legal infrastructure and regulatory agency characteristics are represented and finally a SWOT analysis is made for the telecommunication sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Communication Regulatory Agency. Keywords: Regulation, telecommunication sector, sustainable development, Bosnia and Herzegovina Introduction Current discourse is the importance of competition in any sector. It is expected from nation-states that they replace their competition policies with more liberal ones. In other words, the role of the states is expected to be ‘mediator state’. States will delegate their regulatory and supervisory authorities to autonomous administrative authorities. In this way, the wealth of the citizens will foster. In order to experience such a wealth increase monopolistic sectors should be transformed into oligopolistic markets. Then, these oligopolistic markets shall approach to perfect competition. It is the case also for the telecommunication sector. The sector is generally under governmental monopoly or has oligopolistic features. Therefore, the regulation and supervision shall be performed by autonomous administrative authorities. Telecommunication and Regulation in Bosnia and Herzegovina a. A Historical Overview During the first phase of postwar reconstruction in BiH, broadcasting regulation was split between two agencies: the Independent Media Commission (IMC), responsible for licensing radio and television stations, program monitoring and establishing codes of practice, and the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (TRA), responsible for telecommunications and frequency management. The High Representative merged the two agencies in March 2001, creating the Communications Regulatory Agency (Regulatorna Agencija za Komunikacije-RAK), that has responsibility for both broadcasting and telecommunications areas (CARDS, 2006). Currently there are three telecom enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina. These are BH Telecom, Telekom Srpske and HT Mostar. BH telecom, headquartered in Sarajevo, is a “joint-stock” company, principally divided into four primary service units: (FIPA, 2005) • Fixed telephony BH Telecom; • Mobile telephony GSM BIH;