North Macedonia coverage

What the North Macedonia numbers mean

Two numbers matter and only one of them is the one every seller quotes. The typical speed, 49 Mbps, tells you what a good moment looks like.

The tenth percentile, 12 Mbps, is the one that matters. It is the speed in the worst tenth of the day, when the cell above the station is full and everybody around you is on it too. A country with a high median and a low floor is a country that works beautifully right up until the moment you actually need it.

If the trip depends on video calls or tethering, plan around the busy figure rather than the typical one.

What happens in North Macedonia when the network is busy

Congestion is not a fault, it is a Tuesday evening. The question is what your eSIM can do about it, and for most travel eSIMs the answer is nothing: one wholesale agreement per country, one network, and no way out except buying a second eSIM from somebody else while standing in the street.

Here, Orbislo traffic runs over A1 and Telekom. When the network you are on degrades we move you to another one, mid trip, without you asking, and tell you afterwards rather than interrupting you at the time.

Mobile operators in North Macedonia

• A1 Makedonija: A1 Makedonija had the most active mobile subscribers at the end of 2025, with 47.01 percent of the market, and took 46.48 percent of retail mobile revenue in the fourth quarter.
• Makedonski Telekom: Makedonski Telekom held 46.37 percent of active mobile subscribers at the end of 2025 but earned 51.83 percent of retail mobile revenue in the fourth quarter, the largest share of any operator. The regulator also names it the operator with significant market power in fixed telephony.
• Smaller providers: Beyond the two big networks, the regulator counted MTEL on 5.13 percent of active mobile subscribers at the end of 2025, up 1.3 points in a year, Telekabel on 1.39 percent and Green Mobile on 0.10 percent.
• Market size: The country had 1,992,046 active mobile subscribers on 31 December 2025, about 109 for every 100 residents. A line counts as active only if it made a call, sent a message, used data or was paid for in the previous three months.
• Prepaid share: Prepaid lines made up 35.75 percent of active mobile subscribers at the end of 2025. Residential prepaid lines fell from 833,089 in the third quarter to 712,067 in the fourth, a drop of 14.5 percent, while postpaid numbers held steady.

Older networks in North Macedonia

• Makedonski Telekom switched off 3G region by region, with the shutdown planned to finish by the end of April 2024. A phone limited to 3G falls back to 2G on its network for calls and texts, which the operator says is too slow for internet use.
• On Makedonski Telekom, 4G is free and switches on automatically for every customer, but it needs a 4G capable handset, the right network settings and a SIM card no more than 14 years old.
• A1 Makedonija says its 5G upgrade is being carried out alongside continued 2G, 3G and 4G service, rather than by switching the older networks off, and that 5G is available to any customer with a 5G phone in coverage.

5G in North Macedonia

• Makedonski Telekom began building 5G on its 2.1 GHz spectrum in October 2021, using dynamic spectrum sharing with 4G. Its first commercial 5G network opened in February 2022, it received 700 MHz and 3.6 GHz frequencies in July 2022, and 5G reached 26 towns by October 2022.
• The regulator's 2021 tender offered three national blocks of 2x10 MHz in the 700 MHz band and three of 100 MHz between 3.5 and 3.8 GHz for mobile service, each for 15 years, with winners bound to start using the frequencies within nine months.
• A1 Makedonija started building its 5G network in 2022. Its coverage list takes in the Skopje, Kumanovo, Bitola, Prilep, Ohrid, Struga, Tetovo, Gostivar and Debar regions, as well as Mavrovo and Prespa.
• A 2025 tender reserved a national 2x10 MHz block at 700 MHz, 2x10 MHz at 1800 MHz and 100 MHz at 3.5 to 3.6 GHz for a bidder with no existing public radio network, who had to commit to using the frequencies by the end of 2026.
• In January 2026 the regulator chose One Makedonija Telekomunikacii as the sole qualified bidder for all three blocks, at a combined one off fee of 8,020,003 euros. The licences are issued only after that fee is paid.

Network notes for North Macedonia

• VoLTE calling on Makedonski Telekom carries no charge for any of its customers and does not change call prices. It needs a compatible, updated smartphone; on iPhone the operator requires at least iOS 16.
• On A1 Makedonija, VoLTE is open only to postpaid customers with a supported handset, and it is switched on manually in the phone's settings. Prepaid A1 lines make calls over the older networks instead.
• A1 draws the edge of its coverage map at a signal level of minus 100 dBm, which it describes as the lowest level at which a call can still be made, so the outer edge of the map marks bare calling coverage.