PM NETWORK|JUNE2006|WWW.PMI.ORG

country

JUNE2006|PM NETWORK

connects

A U.S.-funded projectbrings most of Macedoniaonline in only months.

Kelley Hunsberger|

photo by

Goran Deskovski

from left

Zoran Dimovski, IT intern; Olivera Zivkovska, financialmanager; Aleksandar Bilbilov, director of connectivity and applications;Glenn Strachan, project director; Ljupco Tagasovski, assistant projectdirector; Orhideja Zlatkova-Kocareva, administrative assistant; John Martone,web and database administrator; Arangel “Ufo” Angor, IT intern

PM NETWORK|JUNE2006|WWW.PMI.ORG

Macedonia was on the verge of civil war. In the fiveyears since then, the tensions that once plagued thecountry have decreased, leaving Macedonia to focuson its economic development—and connecting to theworld via the Internet is a major part of the plan.Through the Macedonia Connects project, the small,landlocked country in Southeastern Europe hasmanaged to become the first all-wireless country inthe world.The project has covered the country’s mostpopulated areas with wireless access points. Now,95 percent of its more than two million citizenshave access to the Internet, up from eight percentbefore the project began. The project also has low-ered the cost of connecting by about $100 a monthand supplied broadband access to all of the coun-try’s primary and secondary schools—some of whichnever even had a phone.Established in October 2004, the Macedonia Con-nects project is primarily funded by the U.S. Agency forInternational Development (USAID) and managed bythe Academy for Educational Development (AED),both based in Washington, D.C., USA. Scheduled toend on 1 October 2007, the project has four primarygoals, according to Ljupcho Tagasovski, AED assistantproject director:

Provide broadband Internet connectivity to all460 urban and rural schools and several univer-sity facilities

Establish sustainable, commercial service to busi-ness, government and individual customers

Publicize and facilitate the network by assistingother Macedonian-based projects in using thebroadband network to enhance their own activities

Introduce a competitive atmosphere for Internetservices, resulting in reduced costs for connectivity.

Springboard Into Action

The Macedonia Connects project initially focusedon schools. Almost immediately, though, it becameclear that the project instead should expand to

A Country Connects

October

MacedoniaConnectsprojectestablished.

In 2001,

March

MakTel’stelecommonopolyends.