The High Representative, Wolfgang Petritsch, on Monday accepted the resignation of the Chief Executive Officer of the Communications Regulatory Agency (CRA), Jerker Torngren, as of the end of the year.

In his letter of resignation, Mr Torngren pointed out that the tasks he was hired to implement, as part of the broad restructuring of the BiH telecommunications sector, have now been substantially accomplished and that the next phase of restructuring can now move forward effectively under a different CEO.

The High Representative has asked deputy CEO David Betts to fulfill the functions of acting CEO from 1 January 2002 onward. A selection procedure will be launched next year in order to appoint a permanent successor to Mr Torngren.

The High Representative expresses his gratitude to Mr Torngren for all of his hard work in taking forward the work of the CRA during a crucial period and commends his achievements in the BiH telecom and broadcasting sectors over the last nine months.

The two predecessor organisations, the Independent Media Commission and the Telecommunications Regulatory Agency, have been successfully combined into a single organisation since the CRA took over their mandates on 2 March.

Under Mr Torngren’s guidance the Phase Two broadcast licence process, which will optimise the commercial use of the BiH frequency spectrum, an invaluable national resource, has moved towards completion. The names of TV and radio stations which have applied and qualified for long-term licences have been announced in nine out of 13 broadcasting regions, and the results for the remaining four regions will be announced by the end of this month.

Furthermore initial steps have been taken to introduce competition to the BiH mobile-phone market by granting licences to two existing mobile operators, with the result that the two network operators have already started to compete against each other.

In addition, Mr Torngren has prepared all the necessary steps for the future regulation of the telecom sector.