The Czech Republic is taking decisive steps to eliminate its digital dead zones by 2030. The Czech Telecommunication Office (CTU) has mandated mobile operators O2 and T-Mobile to improve coverage in these underserved areas, with President Petr Pavel recently signing legislation to streamline the construction of communication networks.
Currently, about 1,500 “white spots” exist across the country – sparsely populated areas with challenging terrain where no operator provides coverage to more than 97% of the population. Despite these gaps, the Czech Republic maintains its position among the EU’s top ten countries for mobile coverage quality, surpassing even Germany.
The new legislation, effective from July, will significantly simplify the construction process. It enables the installation of base stations on forest land without special permits and eliminates the need for landscape impact assessments for communication towers up to 50 meters tall.
The initiative comes with substantial costs – each new transmitter requires an investment of 5-7 million Czech crowns, with some locations needing multiple transmitters, pushing costs into tens of millions. To support this development, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has already allocated 300 million crowns in subsidies for 57 approved projects.
O2 has already begun preparatory work to meet its 2030 commitment, conducting technical studies for new base stations and initiating discussions with municipalities.