CRONET STATION ON MT TREBEVIC NEAR SARAJEVO DISCONNECTED

SARAJEVO, Oct 26 (Hina) - The Croatian company CRONET, which is part of the Croatian Post and Telecommunications (HPT), can no longer provide the Sarajevo area with GSM services because the base station on Mt Trebevic was disconnected on Friday. Emin Skopljak, director of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Telecommunications Board, told the Sarajevo daily "Dnevni Avaz" that CRONET's base station on Trebovic was no longer in use. It is not known whether HPT's equipment has been removed. The equipment on Trebevic, worth DM250,000, had been set up with consent of the Bosnian Serb authorities. Skopljak said that the CRONET signal had been disconnected in accordance with a request by the Office of the High Representative (OHR) and an agreement between the Federation of Bosnia- Herzegovina Premier Edhem Bicakcic and Republika Srpska Premier Milorad Dodik. The BH Federation authorities have on several occasions accused CRONET, that is the HPT, of violating Bosnia's sovereignty, because it used the code 385, which is valid only for Croatia. According to the Sarajevo daily, the old system of mobile communications with the area code 099, also installed on Trebevic, is still operating, however its capacities are very limited because it has only 11 channels. Bosnia's Post and Telecommunications (PTT), which is operating in parts of the country inhabited mostly by Muslims, and the HPT have still not reached agreement on roaming which would enable the use of BIHNET and CRONET mobile phones in both states. (hina) it jn/sp