RATEL’s representatives took part in the Regulatory Forum for Europe 2025, held in Budva from 29-30 September 2025, hosted by the Agency for Electronic Communications and Postal Services of Montenegro (EKIP) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Office for Europe. The focus of this year’s event was the activity of „Building a Resilient and Human-Centric Digital World“.

At the forum's opening ceremony, participants were addressed by representatives of the host, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and NRAs from several countries.

Welcoming all participants and organizers of the meeting, Deputy Chair of the Ratel Council Petar Stijović stressed the importance of this year's topic, reminding us that digitalization is not a goal in itself, but a means to improve the quality of life of citizens, ensure inclusion and connectivity and inspire security and trust in the digital environment. He went on to emphasize that Ratel has been following this approach for 20 years.

During the two-day forum, numerous current regulatory trends were discussed: universal and meaningful connectivity, digital infrastructure resilience, implementation of new technologies, including artificial intelligence, as well as the protection of user rights.

On the first day of the forum, a meeting of representatives of regulatory authorities in the region tasked with user protection (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia and Slovenia) was held in an effort to efficiently exchange experience on the following topics: remote conclusion and termination of contracts by telephone, unwanted/unsolicited messages and calls and the "Do not call" register, data flow for internet access services in mobile and fixed communication networks and the introduction of penalties for untimely removal of disturbances and interruptions in the operation of electronic communication networks, as well as the use of AI in consumer protection via chatbots.

During the second day of the meeting, representatives of Ratel had the opportunity to familiarize the participants with the regulator’s current activities and results through two presentations within Session 4 – Accelerating Infrastructure Deployment and Fostering Investment and Session 5 – Empowering the Digital Citizen: Strengthening Users' Rights in a Connected World.

Sanja Vuletić, Chief Advisor at the Radio Communications Division and Marija Janković, Chief Advisor at the IT Division, presented an integrated solution for recording radio stations in the public mobile electronic communications network, in connection with the registration obligation that entered into force on March 1, 2025. Participants were presented with an overview and method of submitting requests for registration via the Internet desk, as well as the integration of internal Ratel systems, starting from the Internet desk, through the document management system, the ePayment system of the Office for Information Technology and e-Government, to the database of recorded radio stations.

Jelena Stanković, Senior Advisor at the User Protection and Legal Representation Division, spoke about the challenges in the area of electronic communications service end-user protection in terms of increasing prices of electronic communications services and possible misleading of end-users, focusing particularly on the role of clear contracts and user rights.

This year's gathering was the most attended to-date, with 188 registered participants from 21 countries, thus asserting the importance of regional and international cooperation in the development of digital infrastructure and regulatory policies.