February 2001

Estonia Master Report

• Power engineering company Eesti Energia AS;
• Railway company AS Eesti Raudtee;
• Gas company AS Eesti Gaas;
• Cable distribution companies (Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS, AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon; AS Levi Kaabel, Tallinna Kaabeltelevisiooni AS);
• Data communications operator ComTrade AS.

1.1. Regulatory background

Of significance in the field of telecommunications are:

• The Concession Agreement signed between the Government of Estonia and AS Eesti Telefon in 1992, which granted exclusive rights to AS ET for eight years (till 01.01.2001) to provide basic services (national and international switched fixed voice telephony services, telex and telegraphic services, their installation and interconnecting to them). Non-basic telecommunication services (e.g. mobile and data communication, paging services, satellite communication or value-added services) can be offered freely although a licence is needed for building and operating networks and / or if there is interconnection to the PSTN. There is competition in all of these liberalised markets;
• Cable Distribution Act (State Gazette [Riigi Teataja – RT], 1999 [year], 25 [number], 362 [article]), entered into force in June 1999;
• Telecommunications Act adopted at the beginning of 2000 (RT I 2000, 18, 116).

1.1.1. Concession Agreement

The main factor influencing the Estonian telecommunications market has been the Concession Agreement signed in 1992 which granted exclusive rights to AS Eesti Telefon for eight years (till 01.01.2001) to provide basic services (national and international switched fixed voice telephony services, telex and telegraphic services, their installation and interconnecting to them).

1.1.2. Telecommunications Act

The main law regulating the field is the Telecommunications Act with which the State intends to create favourable conditions for the development of telecommunications and to promote free competition.

The term ‘alternative networks’ is not explicitly used, although the Act regulates the field.

§ 2. Telecommunications services

(1) Telecommunication service is the transmission or routing of signals of telecommunications network or telecommunications networks and the establishment of connections between termination points of a telecommunications network or telecommunications networks. Telecommunications services do not include broadcasting.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, a telecommunication service is public if it is accessible to all users on equal basis.

1.1.3. Cable Distribution Act

The second important law is the Cable Distribution Act that regulates the terms of deployment and conditions of operation cable networks, and the provision of cable television services and telecommunication services by cable operators. The Cable Distribution Act came into effect on June 1, 1999.

Following definitions are used in the Act:

§ 2. Cable distribution and cable networks

(1) For the purposes of this Act, "cable distribution" means the transmission of television or radio programmes to subscribers through cable networks.

(2) For the purposes of this Act, "cable network" means a technical infrastructure used for the transmission of programmes to subscribers.

The Act also regulates the provision of telecommunication services via cable networks. Telecommunication service has been defined as follows (§ 11):

(1) "Telecommunication service" means services consisting wholly or mainly in the transmission of signals on a telecommunications network, and the creation of connections between the telecommunications network termination points.

(2) "Telephone service" means a telecommunications service, which provides users with a connection with a telephone network, and allows the transmission of calls in real time between the termination points of the network.

1.2. Commercial restrictions and entry barriers

A public telecommunications network may be operated and a public telecommunication service may be provided by an entrepreneur that has the respective authorisation from the State. In case an owner of alternative communications networks wants to provide a telecommunication service to another enterprise, the operating licence is not required, unless there is a connection with a public communications network. At the same time provision of a large part of telecommunication services has been currently established as an exclusive right of AS Eesti Telefon and the markets will open on January 1, 2001.

1.2.1. Concession Agreement

The main entry barrier discouraging operating in telecommunications market (including provision of telecom services through alternative networks) is the Concession Agreement. It granted exclusive rights in the provision of basic services (national and international switched fixed voice telephony services, telex and telegraphic services, their installation and interconnecting to them) to AS Eesti Telefon.

Nevertheless the Concession Agreement states:

The concession holder shall, on terms and conditions to be agreed between the concession holder and the party interested in interconnection, allow, facilitate and effect the interconnection to its network of the basic services and systems of other telecommunications operators, according to the Communication Act of the Republic of Estonia, and established international standards. (§ 4.12 Concession Agreement)

For building and operating a public local network a respective application has to be submitted to the concession holder that can make a subcontract on the operating of the local network. (§ 5.3)

Non-basic telecommunication services (e.g. mobile and data communication, paging services, satellite communication or value-added services) can be offered freely although a licence is needed for building and operating networks and/or if there is interconnection to the PSTN. There is competition in all of these liberalised markets.

1.2.2. Cable Distribution Act

The Cable Distribution Act (§ 12) has stipulated a conditional local monopoly established through a public tender arranged by the National Communications Board:

(1) A local government council shall determine the cable television network areas to be constructed within the territory of the local government, and shall designate the entire territory of the local government as one cable television network area, or divide the territory into several cable television network areas based on the number of potential subscribers and with the aim to provide cable distribution services within the entire territory of the local government.

(2) The Communications Board shall issue one or several cable television licences for each cable television network area on the basis of a public competition.

(3) The Communications Board shall issue one cable television licence for each cable television network area on the basis of a public competition if any applicant for the licence undertakes, in addition to the transmission of programmes, to provide the service specified in subsection 11(2) of this Act within the entire scope of the cable television network within eight months after receipt of the activity licence.

The Cable Distribution Act excludes the operation of dominant telephone network operators in the cable distribution market and there are also several other restrictions:

§ 8 Owner of cable television network

(1) An undertaking entered in the commercial register in Estonia, which has been issued a cable television network licence pursuant to this Act, may be the owner of a cable television network.

(2) The owner of a cable television network shall not be a company which accounts for more than 40 per cent of the turnover in the market of telephone services provided for in §11 of this Act with are rendered in Estonia; the owner of a cable television network shall have no economic interest in such company.

(3) For the purposes of this Act, "economic interest" provided for in subsection (2) of this section means:

• belonging to the same group; or
• if all or some share holders or owners are the same directly or through third persons; or
• holding in another undertaking directly or through partners, shareholders or third persons, which exceeds 2 per cent.
• the group of persons with holdings in an undertaking which is the owner of a cable television network, and their holdings in third undertakings shall be transparent.

The National Communications Board issues non-transferable activity licences for duration of ten years, stipulated in the law, for the construction and operating cable television networks:

(1) "Cable television network licence" means an activity licence issued by the Communications Board which entitles the person indicated therein to construct, own and use a cable television network under the conditions specified in the licence.

According to the cable distribution operators there is a confusion caused by incomplete legislative acts. They claim the Telecommunications Act and the Cable Distribution Act to be contradictory. At the moment activities of the National Communications Board are limited by these legal confusions as well, since based on the Cable Distribution Act the Communications Board has issued regulations which later have been declared unlawful by courts. To solve the problem, the new Draft of the Cable Distribution Act (Kaabelleviseaduse eelnõu) is in proceedings of the Parliament at the moment.

1.2.3. Regulation of the telecommunications market

To operate a public telecommunications network or a telecommunications network connected with it or with a telecommunications network located in a foreign country or to provide a telecommunication service, a person has to notify the National Communications Board in writing. The information needed in the notices is stipulated in § 9 and the persons may commence after the notice has been registered in the National Communications Board (§ 10).

Besides notification in certain cases the person has to obtain the license that is non-transferable and issued for a term of ten years unless the licence applicant requests a shorter term (§ 12):

(2) A licence is required for the operation of a public telecommunications network if the operation is based on:

1) Use of allocations of radio frequency channels from the Estonian radio frequency allocation plan, or
2) Use of allocations of number series from the Estonian numbering plan.

(3) A licence is also required if a telecommunications network is interconnected with a public telecommunications network or a telecommunications network located on the territory of a foreign country.

The license will be issued not later than within six weeks after the receipt of an application according to the requirements at the National Communications Board.

Besides the licence there is also the non-transferable technical authorisation licence that is granted for a specified time for the use of the limited resource of telecommunications (§ 18).

(2) The types of technical authorisation are:

1) Permits for the installation of radio transmission equipment together with the reservation of corresponding radio frequency channels;
2) Permits for the use of radio transmission equipment;
3) Permits for the use of number series, identification codes or short codes together with the reservation of corresponding number series, identification codes or short codes.

(3) The following conditions shall be established by a technical authorisation the purpose of which is:

1) To use radio frequencies efficiently and to ensure control thereof;
2) To use number series, identification codes or short codes;
3) To comply with the requirements for environment, health protection and planning;
4) To ensure the quality, availability and reliability of telecommunications network.

The National Communication Board decides the issue or refusal of the licence within six weeks.

The Act regulates the organisations with significant market power with special provisions. These enterprises are determined by the National Communication Board, taking into account the concrete market of telecommunication services and the area. These are enterprises enjoying the exclusive right granted by the state or local government to operate in the (local) communications market and / or whose market share together with the parent undertaking or subsidiary is at least 25 per cent of the turnover of the concrete public telecommunication service market or at least 25 per cent of the traffic in the case of the interconnection service market and who do not prove that the holding of such market share does not endanger free competition. (§ 8).

As an exception, the National Communications Board can deem an entrepreneur whose market share accounts for less than 25 % of the turnover of the particular market to be an entrepreneur with significant market power (§ 8). The decision on entrepreneurs with significant market power is adopted for each year by December 1 of the previous year. In case the market share of an entrepreneur accounts for at least 40% of the turnover of the market, the activities of such a company as an entrepreneur with significant market power are regulated by the Competition Act (RT I 1998, 30, 410; 1999, 89, 813) in addition to the Telecommunications Act.

Entrepreneurs with significant market power are obliged among other things:

• To provide a leased line service through its telecommunications network (§ 33);
• To make a interconnection contract and interconnect its telecommunications network with another telecommunications network in a connection point applied for, within two months from the reception of the respective application. In case no agreement is reached concerning the connection conditions, the National Communications Board will settle the dispute (§ 41);
• To enable other operators to use the disengaged capacity of the line facility (§ 91).

The system for registering notifications and issuing activity licenses was started on August 1, 2000.

The entrepreneurs operating in the telecommunications market before the entry of this law into force had to submit a notice and an application for activity license to the National Communications Board by September 1, 2000. After that they had the right to continue their earlier activities till the decision of the National Communications Board. Applications for operating fixed voice telephony networks were submitted by 9 enterprises, altogether 26 registration applications were received. The activities of 52 enterprises are registered.

From 2001, the most important companies in the market will probably be AS Eesti Telefon, Levicom BroadBand OÜ (TELE2) and Uninet AS. Service provision is to a large extent based on the networks of AS Eesti Telefon (copper-based last mile connections). To use these networks interconnection agreements have to be issued. New operators are building their own backbones and international connection channels.

1.3. Enterprises and their strategies

1.3.1. Telecommunications operators

1.3.1.1. AS Eesti Telekom

The most influential enterprise in the Estonian telecommunications market AS Eesti Telekom was restructured in 1991-93; in 1997 the state enterprise Eesti Telekom was formed into AS Eesti Telekom and the decision was adopted to organise an auction to sell up to 49% of the shares. The auction took place at the beginning of 1999. Institutional and private investors purchased 49% of the shares owned previously by the Estonian State. As the result of Eesti Telekom’s restructuring Sonera and Telia AB acquired holdings in AS Eesti Telekom. At the moment AS Eesti Telekom has 100% ownerships in AS Eesti Telefon (Estonian Telephone Company) and in AS Eesti Mobiiltelefon (Estonian Mobile Telephone Company). The shares of Eesti Telekom are owned as follows: Telia AB (Sweden) and Sonera Holding B.V. (Finland) – 49%, the Government of Estonian Republic – 27.3%, other investors – 23.7%.

Eesti Telekom group invested 70 MEUR in 1999 and 55 MEUR in January - September 2000.

According to the opinion of the AS Eesti Telefon the role of alternative networks in the voice telephony market is almost none. Eesti Energia AS, AS Eesti Gaas, AS Eesti Raudtee and others use mainly corporate networks for internal communication. By AS Eesti Telefon it is believed, in near future main competition will take place in the international long-distance calls area. Continuation of high competition in the data communications market is predicted.

ET has taken several steps in preparing for competition. It wished to stop cross-subsidising different services with fixing new tariffs (starting October, 1). Also activities are re-organised and several side actions eliminated. Number of personnel is to be diminished. Also, ET closed some offices and gave up collecting payments itself.

1.3.1.2. TELE2 and Q-GSM

OÜ Levicom BroadBand (trademark TELE2) evolved from the cable distribution company AS Levi Kaabel (founded in 1988). AS Levi Kaabel was reorganised in November 1994, when 12 separate cable distribution companies from all over Estonia were united. Sphere of activity is provision of cable television services all over Estonia.

In October 1997 OÜ Levicom BroadBand acquired several companies active in the field of Internet (AS Meediamaa, AS Netexpress), in 1999 the gratis electronic mail service provider Mail.ee. Since January 1999 NetCom Systems AB owns 19% of OÜ Levicom BroadBand shares.

NetCom AB has also shares in mobile communication operator AS Ritabell (trademark Q-GSM).

1.3.1.3. Radiolinja

Finnish enterprise OY Radiolinja AB established its subsidiary Radiolinja Eesti AS in 19994 to operate a GSM network in Estonia. Mobile communications network was opened in 1995.

1.3.1.4. Uninet AS

Uninet AS has provided data communication services since 1994. OY Finnet International AB was involved in 1997 as a strategic investor. Starting January 1, 2001, the enterprise is entering the telephone service market. The enterprise has international connection between Finland and Estonia by means of optic cable installed in the sea.

1.4. Companies which own alternative communications networks

1.4.1. AS Eesti Energia

AS Eesti Energia is 100% state-owned power engineering company. It produces 97% of Estonian electrical energy and is a major employer in the country with about 5,500 employees. The length of the lines in the main network (330-110kV) is 5,338 km and in the distribution network (<110 kV) 59,133 km.

The special department, established already in 1949, is dealing with communications networks. Independently from this department an economic entity - Eesti Energia Televõrk - was established and it is operational from April 1, 2000.

1.4.2. AS Eesti Gaas

AS Eesti Gaas is a joint stock company in private law, based on private capital and owned by three large European gas companies - Russian OAO Gazprom (31%), German Ruhrgas AG (32%), Neste OY (10%) and smaller shareholders, among whom there are individuals as well as legal persons. The activities of AS Eesti Gaas focus on the purchase, pipeline transportation, distribution and sale of natural gas. In addition, the company is engaged with maintenance of gas systems and arrangement of construction of new ones.

The customers of AS Eesti Gaas are 130,423 residential clients, 682 commercial and public institutions, 211 industrial customers, 124 district heat generators and 6 heat and power co-generators. AS Eesti Gaas has 427 employees at the moment.

1.4.3. AS Eesti Raudtee

AS Eesti Raudtee is the biggest public 100% state-owned transport company. It has 4800 employees and operates 62 stations.

In the year 2000 66% of the shares of the AS Eesti Raudtee are to be privatised. Net turnover of the company in 1999 was 89 MEUR and the Estonian Privatization Agency estimates the value of the company to equal 20% of the Estonian GDP. As the result of privatisation competition negotiations are held with the company Rail Estonia (shareholders Kingsley Investments, CSX Corp and Rail America Inc.).

1.4.4. AS Eesti Veevärk

AS Eesti Veevärk is a private enterprise that has 33 shareholders, 29 of whom are local governments (most of them have a participation of ca 0.1 - 4.6 % each). Other shareholders are NEFCO (11.2%), AS Tartu Veevärk (13.2%), AS Narva Vesi (13.8%) and AS Võru Vesi. The company employs 40 people.

1.5. Cable distribution

The most widespread usage of alternative communications networks takes place in cable distribution. Wide-scale cable distribution in Estonia started in 1987 when the co-operative Levi (present AS Levi Kaabel) established the first cable TV network of Estonia in town Kuressaare. There was overall rapid development in Europe in this area as it was possible to receive and transmit dozens of programs with simple equipment. This development was followed in Estonia. The development of cable TV took place mainly in the Western, Central and Southern parts of Estonia where only a few TV programs transmitted by local transmitters were available in contrast to Northern Estonia.

The second leap in the Estonian cable TV market took place in 1992 when local transmitters stopped the transmission of Russian television programs. The rapid development of cable-TV networks started in Tallinn and other places in Northern Estonia where most of the Russian-speaking people reside. This was also a period of cable television piracy, as most of the established networks of Northern Estonia (including those built in Tallinn) were neither technically nor legally correctly built.

The third milestone is the adoption of the Cable Distribution Act in spring 1999 by the Parliament, in force since June 1, 1999. This law organises the market to an important extent and establishes conditions for development.

Estonian cable distribution operators can be divided into three categories: Netcom AB, Telia AB with investment fund EECI, and local operators.

The Distribution of the Estonian cable television market between different operators (July 2000)

Company	Main shareholder	Number of completed outlets	Number of connected outlets	Market share
Starman Kaabeltelevisioon AS	Investment Fund EECI	102 000	45 000	27%
AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon	local *	110 000	37 000	24%
AS Levi Kaabel	Levicom Broadband OÜ (TELE2)	44 000	23 000	16%
AS Telset	local*	40 000	13 000	9%
Tallinna Kaabeltelevisiooni AS	Levicom Broadband OÜ (TELE2)	18 000	4 000	2%
Others	local*		38 000	21%
Total			160 000	100 %

Source: Cable Distributors’ Association
* Operators based on local capital.

1.5.1. Netcom AB

The first group consists of the leading Scandinavian telecommunication corporation Netcom AB (trademark TELE2); its’ subsidiary Levicom Broadband OÜ operates communications networks (incl. cable TV networks) in Estonia and Lithuania.

Tallinna Kaabeltelevisiooni AS was established in 1994 and the company operates a communications network in Tallinn. In the second largest city of Estonia operates holding company’s subsidiary AS Levi Kaabel.

1.5.2. Telia AB and EECI

The second interest group in the Estonian cable-TV market is the Swedish national telecommunications company Telia AB, which through its subsidiary is the major share holder of cable television distribution operator Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS. According to the Cable Distributors’ Association Starman is the largest cable-TV operator accounting for 28% of the market.

In year 2000 Telia AB sold its 60% ownership in Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS (largest cable distributing company in Estonia) due to the Cable Distribution Act that entered into force in June 1999 and according to which the owner of a cable TV network cannot be a company that controls more than 40% of telephony services provided in Estonia or is related with such a company through economic interests. Shares of Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS were purchased by the investment fund EECI for 10.6 MEUR. EECI is specialised on the countries of Central Europe.

1.5.3. Local operators

The third group of cable-TV operators consists of operators based on local capital. The largest of these is AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon with its subsidiaries AS TV Com and AS STV Kopli.

AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon (STV) was established in 1991, today it is a significant actor in the cable distribution market. Both data communication (with Internet connections) and telephone services are offered through AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon's cable distribution network with the help of cable modems from companies AS Infonet and AS ComTrade.

2.1.1. AS Eesti Energia

Eesti Energia Televõrk operates a corporate network that covers the whole Estonian territory offering reliable telecommunication services to Eesti Energia and its subsidiaries.

The corporate network covers the whole territory connecting all major energy facilities – power stations, management centres, etc. Following technologies are used:

• Analogue channels (n x 64 kbit, n x 2Mbit),
• Radio links (2, 15, 18 GHz),
• Operative AM radio communication networks,
• Optical cable systems.

The networks of the company are mainly used for corporate purposes. The usage area covers the telephony communication and operational communication both inside the company's communications networks and with connection to the public network of AS Eesti Telefon (29 digital stations). Data communication services are used for operational data communication and transmission of electricity system commercial data as well as connecting the computers of the company.

In the short-run, there are plans to develop image transfer services for operational management, security control and videoconferencing. Long-run plans are not clear at the moment but large-volume co-operation with major telecommunication operators is considered.

Eesti Energia AS has also announced possible entry to telecommunications market as technology to offer data communication services over the cable already exists.

2.1.2. AS Eesti Gaas

The corporate communication network was established during the Soviet period, when installing a communication cable along with a gas pipe was very common. Today the network is used for internal telephony and data communication with gas distribution centres.

No strategic decision has been adopted about the future of the communication lines. In the sections where the company does not use the full capabilities of the network, they are willing to rent it out. On the other hand, they rent some channels themselves from the AS Eesti Telefon because for instance in Tallinn and also elsewhere their own network only reaches the borders of the town.

2.1.3. AS Eesti Raudtee

The field of information and communication technology is especially important for operational communication, but also for connecting to the inter-company data communications network extending to several directions all over the country. For corporate communications, both analogue and digital transmission is used. Backbones (copper and optics) and radio transmissions are used as channels. There is also connection to the public network of the AS Eesti Telefon.

The main thing considered in developing the communication system, is its stability. It is guaranteed by including free resources and creating a possibility for parallel usage of different communication types. Free resources are created by doubling equipment (double processors in the telephone stations) or communication channels (re-routing). Both processes have already been started and are being developed actively.

The digitisation of existing channels going through communication backbones (copper) will be completed in course of 2000, so it will be possible to create a backup solution for established radio linkages and optic cables.

In the field of telecommunications co-operation with other enterprises takes place in renting out free channel volume (radio links to mobile phone operators) and providing telephone services (to companies closely related to Estonian Railways and private persons residing within a short distance from railways).

The strategic decision about the further use of communications networks in co-operation with other telecommunications operators after the complete liberalisation of the market has not been made yet.

2.1.4. Cable distribution companies

In several small Estonian towns the cable TV operators use conventional coax networks working in 47-230 MHz frequency bands (ca 16-18 TV channels). To develop these networks into telecommunications networks with bi-directional communications, huge investments are needed and it is still technically problematic. To some extent, the existing networks could be developed to offer Internet services via cable modems.

Most cable-TV subscribers are, however, located in Tallinn, where almost all operators are using higher frequencies (up to 862 MHz) that enable to broadcast up to 50 TV channels. The topology of the network and the technology remain the same (coax cable network) but it is technically easier and less expensive to develop these networks into two-way telecommunications networks.

AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon and Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS use HFC-technology (Hybrid Fibre Coax) where local coax networks are connected to main stations via fibre-optic network. The technology and topology of local networks is similar to those mentioned above except in in-house networks that are developed based on star topology that enables more easily to provide to customers different packages of TV programs.

Levicom Broadband (Tallinna Kaabeltelevisioon in Tallinn and Levi Kaabel in Tartu) uses FTTB (Fibre-To-The-Building) network structure where every house is connected with a circle topology fibre network. In-house network is star topology network, where coaxial cable with two pairs of copper lines is used to reach the clients. This enables the provision of all telecommunication services. This network is ready for offering telecommunication services and its bandwidth is much wider compared to conventional telephone network.

There are currently no telecommunications operators using alternative communications networks to a considerable extent. Even when telecommunication services are provided through alternative communications networks, separate telecommunications operators have not been created or involved for that purpose and the companies owning alternative networks operate their own networks. Consequently there are no separate operators but sub-units of the same organisation.

In the future, involvement of telecommunication companies can be expected, as several companies surveyed stressed their willingness to involve telecommunication companies. Already first signs of such developments have occurred in the first half of 2000.

Data communication services of telecommunication company AS ComTrade are usable in 50,000 homes in Tallinn as of end of 2000. The services are provided through the medium of cable distribution networks belonging to Starman Kaabeltelevisiooni AS and AS STV Kaabeltelevisioon. In December 2000 Starman Kaabletelevisiooni AS acquired 60% of AS ComTrade shares, the new trademark is Starman Internet.

At the end of 2000 AS Radiolinja Estonia and Eesti Energia Televõrk (Estonian Energy Telenetworks) interconnected their telecommunications networks. On the technical level their co-operation began in 1995 concerning transmission towers, stations and transmission.

In the Estonian telecommunications market only data communication services provided by cable distribution operators can be mentioned briefly. Although several companies providing public services have their internal corporate networks that in principle could be used for the provision of telecommunication services, the services provided by them are small in scale. Companies willing to provide telephony and Internet services, which do not own a network, have to use transmission services of AS Eesti Telefon or rent its copper and optic cables. By doing so they let the customers keep their phone numbers and pay fees fixed by the interconnection contract to AS Eesti Telefon. Cable distribution companies own cable distribution networks, which enable providing telephony services.

Most cable-TV operators in Estonia provide an up to 20 TV programmes containing service. Cable operators in Tallinn and in a few small towns using higher frequencies (up to 862 MHz) provide a service containing up to 60 TV channels and up to 20 FM radio programmes. More important telecommunication service is the Internet connection provided through cable distribution.

After the exclusive rights granted to the AS Eesti Telefon by the Concession Agreement expire, the number of services should rise rapidly. Coming to the market with telephony services provision after the expiration of exclusive rights granted by the Concession Agreement has been announced by AS ComTrade, Levicom BroadBand OÜ (TELE2) and Uninet Andmeside AS. From 2001, the most powerful companies in the market will probably be AS Eesti Telefon, Levicom BroadBand OÜ (TELE2) and Uninet AS.