On 8 September 2026, Macedonia marks 35 years of independence. Three and a half decades in which the country built not only its institutions, economy and statehood, but also its own place in the digital world.

Today, when we open a website, make an online payment, use an electronic public service, work remotely or register a .mk domain, it is easy to forget how short this history actually is. Just over thirty years ago, the internet in Macedonia was a technology available to a small number of academic and research institutions. Today it is basic infrastructure for the economy, education, public administration and everyday life.

Macedonia’s digital story did not happen all at once. It was built step by step, from the first national academic network and the .mk domain, through broadband and mobile internet, to e-services, 5G and artificial intelligence.

And, remarkably, it began almost at the same time as independence itself.

1991. Independent Macedonia

On 8 September 1991, citizens voted for an independent and sovereign Macedonia.

At that moment, the internet was still far from the global mass network we know today. There was no Google, no Facebook, no smartphones, no streaming and no cloud services. The World Wide Web itself was only beginning to move beyond academic circles.

Yet the new state began building its digital identity almost immediately.

1992. The beginnings of Macedonia’s academic network

In September 1992, organised work began on the creation of a national academic and research network.

From those efforts MARnet would emerge, the Macedonian Academic and Research Network, which would play a central role in connecting Macedonian universities and scientific institutions with international computer networks.

This was the first real infrastructure foundation of the Macedonian internet.

1993. Macedonia receives .mk

On 23 September 1993, Macedonia received its national internet domain, .mk.

It remains one of the most important dates in the history of the Macedonian internet.

With the registration of .mk, Macedonia gained its own national namespace within the global Domain Name System. From that moment, the country had a permanent internet identifier of its own.

Today we see .mk used by thousands of companies, media organisations, institutions, shops and other projects. In 1993, its significance was even more fundamental. Macedonia had acquired its own permanent place in the architecture of the internet.

And this happened before the country even had full internet connectivity.

1995. Macedonia connects to the internet

On 15 June 1995, full internet connectivity to the global network was established through MARnet.

The same year also marked the beginning of the commercial internet market. The first internet providers appeared and internet access gradually moved beyond academic institutions into companies and homes.

This was the age of dial-up modems, telephone lines and connection speeds that now seem almost unimaginable.

But this is where the Macedonian web began.

The first local websites, portals, forums and online services started appearing. .mk began to fill with actual content.

The early 2000s. The internet becomes permanent

The next major change was broadband.

Dial-up gradually gave way to ADSL, cable internet and other forms of broadband access. The internet no longer had to be connected and disconnected through a telephone line. It began to remain permanently available.

The Electronic Communications Law of 2005 further opened the market and created the conditions for stronger competition between operators.

This was the period when the internet stopped being an interesting new technology and began becoming normal infrastructure.

Companies launched websites. Media moved online. More serious online stores started appearing. Email became standard business communication.

The Macedonian web entered a period of much faster growth.

2004 to 2006. Macedonia becomes a wireless internet pioneer

In the middle of the 2000s, Macedonia briefly gained an unusual place in global internet history.

Through the Macedonia Connects project, supported by USAID, a broad wireless broadband infrastructure was built and schools throughout the country were connected.

The network covered a very large part of the population, and Macedonia began to be internationally presented as the first country of its size to achieve nationwide wireless broadband coverage.

For a small and mountainous country, at a time when broadband itself was still not standard in many wealthier countries, this was a serious infrastructure achievement.

For a brief period, Macedonia was not simply following global digital development. It became an example of how wireless technology could rapidly provide broadband connectivity on a national scale.

2007. Computer for Every Child

The next major project tried to solve another problem.

Internet access has limited value if people do not have devices through which to use it.

The “Computer for Every Child” programme began the large-scale installation of computers and network equipment in primary and secondary schools.

The project would later face criticism. Some of the equipment became outdated quickly, and placing a computer on every desk did not automatically produce high-quality digital education.

Its historical effect, however, is difficult to dispute.

For an entire generation of students, the computer stopped being specialised equipment available only in an IT classroom. It became part of everyday school life.

Combined with broadband development and Macedonia Connects, this helped create a generation that grew up online.

2008 to 2013. The internet becomes mobile

The first 3G licences were awarded in Macedonia in 2008.

By the end of 2013, the LTE and 4G era had begun.

This may have been the biggest change in how ordinary people experienced the internet. Until then, the internet was largely a place you went to. From this point forward, it increasingly became something you carried with you.

Smartphones became mainstream. Social networks became major communication channels. Websites had to work properly on mobile devices. E-commerce, online banking and digital advertising began to grow much more seriously.

The internet was no longer a separate activity.

It became part of everyday life.

2014. Liberalisation of .mk and the arrival of .мкд

2014 was one of the most important years for Macedonian domains.

From 10 June, a new registration model entered into force, liberalising the .mk domain market and opening it to authorised private registrars.

MARnet remained the national registry, but users gained the ability to register domains through companies that could compete through better technology, support, automation and customer experience.

The same year, Macedonia also received its Cyrillic national domain, .мкд.

The selection process had started in 2012 through public proposals and voting, and in 2014 .мкд officially entered the global DNS.

For the first time, the Macedonian language and Cyrillic script gained their own presence at the highest level of the national domain system.

From that point onward, Macedonia had two national top-level domains, .mk and .мкд.

2015. Zemi.mk begins a new generation of .mk registration

On 15 April 2015, Zemi.mk became an official registrar of Macedonia’s national domains.

That date marks the beginning of our own story, but also forms part of a wider transformation of the Macedonian domain market.

The idea behind Zemi.mk was simple from the beginning. Registering a .mk domain should not feel like an administrative procedure. It should work like a modern online service.

Users search for a name, create an account, register the domain, manage DNS, activate hosting and receive technical support from one place.

In the years that followed, Zemi.mk continued to automate domain registration and management, introduce new tools and expand the hosting ecosystem around .mk.

This period also coincided with a much stronger commercial expansion of the national domain. .mk increasingly became the natural choice for Macedonian companies, media organisations, institutions, shops and new digital projects.

For us, a domain has never been simply another product in a shopping cart. It is the starting point of a digital identity.

2019. Public services begin moving online

In 2019, the National eServices Portal was launched together with the eID electronic identification system.

This represented an important change in the relationship between citizens and the state. A public service no longer had to begin with a physical counter, paper application and in-person visit.

Digital public administration did not happen overnight, and many procedures still remained partly analogue. Nevertheless, the direction had been set.

The state gradually began to function as a digital service as well.

The 2020 pandemic accelerated the process dramatically. Online meetings, remote work, e-commerce, digital payments and online education quickly became a normal part of daily life.

What had previously been a convenience suddenly became essential infrastructure.

2022. Macedonia enters the 5G era

In February 2022, Macedonia’s first commercial 5G network was launched.

Only 27 years after the establishment of the country’s first full internet connection to the outside world, Macedonia already had mobile infrastructure capable of speeds that would have seemed almost impossible in 1995.

That illustrates the speed of technological change better than almost anything else.

Dial-up opened the internet.

Broadband made it permanent.

Wireless networks expanded its reach.

3G and 4G made it mobile.

5G turns it into infrastructure not only for phones and computers, but also for devices, sensors, industrial systems and automation.

2025. The new rulebook makes .mk registration more complicated again

In 2025, the new MARnet Rulebook for the registration of .mk and .мкд domains entered into force.

And here the story takes a slightly unusual turn.

While the global domain industry continues moving toward greater automation and registrations completed within seconds, Macedonian domains once again gained additional formal administrative steps.

The new rules introduced stricter registrant identification, a mandatory registration request and additional documentation requirements for some users.

For customers, this meant more procedure than before.

But in 2025 there was one major difference compared with the old paper-based world. The required document no longer had to travel on paper.

Zemi.mk integrated electronic signing through Evrotrust, allowing users to identify themselves and sign the required registration request digitally.

The new rulebook did not make domain registration simpler. Our task was to use technology to make the additional procedure as painless as possible.

It is a good illustration of digitalisation itself. Sometimes technology removes bureaucracy. Sometimes regulation creates new bureaucracy. Then technology has to simplify it again.

2026. .mk enters the AI era

In 2026 we reach the latest stage.

Artificial intelligence is no longer simply a subject associated with the future. It is becoming a practical component of everyday digital services.

Zemi.mk has integrated AI into the domain search process.

Users no longer have to type a name and receive only a simple answer saying whether it is available or taken. AI can suggest alternative names and provide an additional expert perspective on the searched domain, including its length, readability, memorability, branding potential and suitability for a particular type of project.

The difference between 1995 and 2026 is difficult to describe more clearly.

In 1995, the main question was whether Macedonia could connect to the internet at all.

In 2005, the question was whether internet access could become fast and affordable enough for mass adoption.

In 2015, the question was whether a .mk domain could be registered as a simple and modern online service.

In 2026, the system can already help a user intelligently choose a better name before the domain is even registered.

All of this happened within a single generation.

35 years later

Macedonian digital independence does not have one single date.

It begins with independence in 1991, continues with the creation of the academic network in 1992, .mk in 1993 and full internet connectivity in 1995. Then came broadband, nationwide wireless coverage, “Computer for Every Child”, 3G, 4G, the liberalisation of .mk, the Cyrillic .мкд, a new generation of registrars, electronic public services, 5G and today’s AI era.

Some steps were better executed than others. Some were genuinely pioneering. Some created new headaches. Together, however, they created the digital Macedonia we know today.

A Macedonian company can now find a name, register a national domain through an official registrar, electronically sign the required documentation, activate hosting, DNS, SSL and business email, and become accessible to the entire world within a very short time.

A customer can open the site from a 5G phone. Google can index it. An AI system can read it and use it as a source.

Underneath all of that remains one of the earliest digital foundations established back in 1993.

.mk

Zemi.mk has been part of this story since 15 April 2015. For more than a decade, we have worked with Macedonia’s national domains, web hosting, DNS, electronic signatures and, today, AI tools that make domain selection and management smarter and easier.

On 8 September, we celebrate 35 years of independent Macedonia.

And 35 years during which, alongside the country itself, its digital space continued to grow.

From the first internet connection to 5G.

From the first .mk domains to AI.

From a handful of academic computers to a country in which almost every person, company and institution is part of the network.

The next 35 years will probably not be about whether Macedonia is online.

That question was answered a long time ago.

The question is what we will build there.

Happy 8 September. Happy 35 years of independence, Macedonia.