Tema članka je razvoj javne nepokretne i pokretne telefonije u Hrvatskoj pod okriljem novoosnovane nacionalne javne poštansko-telekomunikacijske tvrtke Hrvatska pošta i telekomunikacije od 1990. pa sve do njezina razdruživanja na dvije zasebne tvrtke: Hrvatska pošta d.d. i Hrvatske telekomunikacije d.d. početkom 1999. godine. Hrvatska je u razvoju javne telefonske mreže znatno zaostajala za razvijenim europskim zemljama, a izbijanje Domovinskoga rata i oružana agresija na Republiku Hrvatsku izložili su ju mogućnosti telekomunikacijske i informacijske blokade. Budući da su se građani Hrvatske opredijelili za tržišnu ekonomiju, politički pluralizam i demokratsko društveno uređenje, u načelu se podrazumijevala i poticala sloboda neposrednoga komuniciranja, a ona je, telekomunikacijski gledano, na razini pojedinca ponajviše bila izražena u dostupnosti domaćih i međunarodnih javnih telefonskih veza. U obrađenom su razdoblju na nacionalnom planu napravljeni ključni infrastrukturni zahvati i uvedena je suvremena tehnologija s novim telekomunikacijskim uslugama, što je omogućilo da Hrvatska prestane biti telekomunikacijski nerazvijena, a na međunarodnom planu postala je prepoznatljiv telekomunikacijski partner te dio tranzitnoga telekomunikacijskog mosta između istočne i zapadne te sjeverne i južne Europe.; After the independence of the Republic of Croatia was declared in 1991, the newly-formed national postal and telecommunications company HPT (Croatian Post and Telecommunications) found itself in an unenviable position. Croatia was in the group of countries at the forefront of telecommunications development in Europe. In 1990, it had only 17 telephone connections per 100 inhabitants. However, in the next eight years it moved closer to the European average, doubling its capacity to 35 telephone lines per 100 inhabitants by 1999. It did so despite the devastation of the Homeland War and the enormous damage suffered by its public telephone network. Croatia managed to negate the telecommunications blockade by finding alternative telecommunication routes, and then set out to build an efficient telephony and transmission system based on the use of fibre-optic cables and modern switching equipment. By the end of 1993, international switching hubs in Zagreb, Split, Rijeka, and Đakovo using AXE 10 technology were built, and the following year cities on the Croatian Adriatic coast were connected with cities in continental Croatia by fibre-optic cable. During this process, Croatia received its one-millionth telephone subscriber. Thanks to its participation in the TEL (Trans Europe Line) project, it became part of the telecommunication bridge between Eastern and Western Europe. In addition to the fixed public telephone network, it simultaneously developed a mobile public telephone network, first an analogue mobile network aptly named MOBITEL in 1991, and then the CRONET digital mobile network in 1996. These steps resulted in a significant increase in telephone traffic and the widespread availability of fixed and mobile telephone connections, which completely revolutionised public telephony in Croatia.