In order to provide accurate and transparent information to the public, we wish to respond to the articles containing unverified facts, inaccurate, and speculative information published on certain news portals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The information related to the SDH network outage from March 14 to 17, 2025, including its functionality concerning the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, must be based on verified facts.
The administration and operation of the SDH network, which is used for data transmission, falls under the purview of the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDDEEA). The network outage occurred only due to adverse weather conditions. Specifically, on the night of March 16, 2025, due to unfavourable weather conditions in the Sarajevo area, a technical failure occurred at the Trebević transmitter, resulting in a service interruption. The outage lasted from 1:06 AM on March 16 until 12:44 PM on March 17, 2025, after which communication was successfully restored.
It is important to emphasise that the failure was the result of weather conditions that caused damage to parts of the access equipment owned by IDDEEA. The failure was rectified through a technical intervention by the responsible teams on the ground. The outage affected not only users from the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina but also relevant authorities and system users in the municipalities of Pale, East Sarajevo, and Ilijaš, further confirming that it was a technical issue and not related to any other actions.
False conclusions implying that the SDH network failure was in any sense connected to political or legal events could result from erroneous and unconfirmed data. We restate that such claims and conclusions are entirely unfounded and have no basis in technical and operational facts, and spreading them without evidence can lead to misinformation and undermine public trust in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina. IDDEEA continuously carries out the administration of information and communication systems within its legal authority and responsibilities. Any technical challenge that arises is professionally and in the shortest time solved in cooperation with the competent institutions and authorities.
We implore all media to report responsibly and professionally, relying on verifiable information from credible sources, to prevent the dissemination of misleading information that could cause unnecessary public panic.
Respectfully,
The Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange of Bosnia and Herzegovina