Update: January 2000

Estonia

These pages present basic facts and technology indicators about the Information Society developments in Estonia.

All data have been collected from readily publicly available sources of information at the end of 1999. Since they depend on definitions which are not standardised in all countries, or, in some cases on estimates, and also due to the difficulty to obtain statistical data and series in several countries covered, these indicators should be considered only as indicative of trends and general tendencies.

This report has been prepared under the sole responsibility of the ESIS II contractors. We welcome any additional information or corrections. Please contact the ESIS contractor in charge of the country concerned. Data will be next updated in January 2001.

1. Economic data

1.1 General socio-economic data

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia
* Source : Omsyc 1998-1999
Comments: later data is not available as such calculations are not done by the Statistical Office of Estonia or any other bodies.

1.2 Telecom market size

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia
Comments:

• Estonian Telephone Company does not publish data on sub-division as it is considered confidential;
• Other data is not available as well as such calculations are not done by the Statistical Office of Estonia or any other bodies.

1.3 Computer market size

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia
Comments: Other data is not available as well as such calculations are not done by the Statistical Office of Estonia or any other bodies.

2. Status of deregulation in the Telecom sector

The market of postal and telecommunications services is mainly open, except for operating in the basic services market (local, national and international switched fixed voice telephony services, telex and telegraph services, their installation and interconnection to them) where exclusive rights have been granted with the Concession Agreement to the Estonian Telephone Company until January 1, 2001.

Telecommunications services other than basic services (such as mobile, data communications, paging, satellites, or value-added services) can be offered freely, but a licence is required for building and operating public networks and/or if there is interconnection to the PSTN. There is strong competition in all of these liberalised markets.

2.1. Key legislative measures

The new telecommunications law is under proceeding at the legislative body Riigikogu and will be passed probably at the beginning of year 2000.

2.2. Liberalisation status

2.3. Key-players of the Estonian telecommunications market

Historic Operator

With the Concession Agreement the historic operator Estonian Telephone Company is granted with exclusive rights on the basic services market (local, national and international switched fixed voice telephony services, telex and telegraph services, their installation and interconnection to them) until January 1, 2001.

Estonian Telecom Limited is a holding company operating in the administrative field of the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Estonian Telecom holds the shares of Estonian Telephone Company Limited (100%) and Estonian Mobile Telephone Company Limited (100%). The shares of Estonian Telecom Limited are distributed between Estonian Government - 27.3%; Telia AB (Sweden) and Sonera Holding B.V. (Finland) - 49%; Public investors - 23,7%.

Mobile communication

There are three operators (all granted with GSM 900 and DCS 1800 licences) in the mobile telephone market:

• Estonian Mobile Telephone owned by Estonian Telecom;
• Radiolinja Eesti owned by Finnet Group;
• Ritabell owned by NetCom AB.

Cable television

• Starman Kaabeltelevisioon, owned by Telia InfoMedia AB;
• STV, owned by local investors;
• Levi Kaabel, owned by Levicom Broadband;
• Telset, owned by local investors;
• Tallinna Kaabeltelevisioon, owned by Levicom Broadband;

Internet service providers

There are nine major operators:

• ASONet, operating under the Estonian Informatics Centre, manages, co-ordinates and develops data communication network for state organisations;
• EENET, governmental non-profit organization established by the Ministry of Education with the task of managing, co-ordinating and developing the computer network of science, education and culture.
• Esdata/Estnet, Owned by Sonera OY (70%) and AS Estonian Telephone (30%).
• Estonian Telephone Company;
• Eunet Estonia operated by Data Telecom, 51% owned by KPNQwest;
• Government Data Communications (Valitsusside), owned by the State with the task to provide data communications to the departments with higher security requirements;
• Infonet, providing dial-up services and leased lines;
• Microlink Online/Delfi Online, owned by Microlink, the biggest IT-company in the Baltics;
• Uninet Data Communications, owned by Finnet International.

Alternative infrastructure owners

• Energy utility Eesti Energia AS. The networks of the company are mainly used for corporate purposes. The usage area covers the telephony inside the company with connection to the public network of Estonian Telephone Company (29 digital stations) and data communication. The latter is used for operative data communication and commercial data transmission as well as to connect the computers of the company. In the short-run, there are plans to develop image transfer services for operative management, security control and videoconferencing. Long-run plans are not clear at the moment but co-operation with major telecommunication operators could be considered.
  
• Railway company AS Eesti Raudtee. For corporate communications, both analogue and digital transmission are used. There also exists a connection to the general network of the Estonian Telephone Company. Co-operation with other enterprises takes place in the field of renting out free channel capacity (radio links to mobile phone operators) and offering telephone service (for companies closely related to Estonian Railways). No strategic decision on what to do with the communication networks after liberalisation in co-operation with other service providers has not been made yet.
  
• Gas utility AS Eesti Gaas. 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. There has been no strategic decision made what to do with the communication lines in the future.
  
• Water utility AS Eesti Veevärk. The company does not have internal communications networks.

Paging companies

There are two paging companies operating in Estonian market:

• Baltcom, a joint venture between Metromedia International (USA, 85%) and local partners (15%) with 10,000 subscribers and a territory coverage of around 60%;
• Estonian Paging Company, 100% owned by EE Investment Group, Estonia.

2.4. Summary

Recent developments in telecommunications networks and services could be described as follows:

• implementation of cable distribution act;
• the new telecommunications law will be passed in the beginning of year 2000;
• Estonian Telephone Company is digitalizing the existing network and according to the Concession Agreement it is obliged to cover rural areas with telephone lines;
• there is strong competition in liberalised markets (Internet, leased-lines, dial-up) and during 1999 important changes in prices have taken place;
• rapid penetration of mobile telephones and introduction of value-added services.

3. Main public bodies in charge of Information Society stimulation

4. Basic Indicators

4.1 Telephones lines

² Number of ISDN lines in total (not only 64k ISDN lines)
Sources: Statistical Office of Estonia, Estonian News Agency, Estonian Telephone Company

Comments: Estonian Telephone Company published data on 64k ISDN lines for the first time in 1999. Earlier data is not avaialble.

² Number of ISDN lines in total (not only 64k ISDN lines)
Sources: Statistical Office of Estonia, Estonian News Agency, Estonian Telephone Company

² Number of ISDN lines in total (not only 64k ISDN lines)
Sources: Statistical Office of Estonia, Estonian News Agency, Estonian Telephone Company

4.2 Telecom equipment

Source: Statistical Office of Estonia, Estonian Telephone Company
* Source : Omsyc 1998-1999

Comments: Other data is not available as there are no bodies capable of providing trustworthy data.

4.3 Personal computers

Sources: Estimations made on the basis of estimated number of households (Statistical Office of Estonia) and the survey carried out by Baltic Media Facts Estonia.

Comments: Other data is not available as there are no bodies capable of providing trustworthy data.

Comments: Other data is not available as such calculations are not done by the Statistical Office of Estonia or any other bodies.

4.4 Internet

³ Number of people that used Internet during the last week
⁴ Number of people that used Internet during the last week "to find information neccessary
for work" .
Sources: RIPE Network Coordination Centre, Baltic Media Facts Estonia

Comments: Other data is not available as such calculations are not done by the Statistical Office of Estonia or any other bodies.

4.5 EDI use

An estimate by ESIS Team in Estonia
Comments: Other data is not available as there are no bodies capable of providing trustworthy data.

4.6 Miscellaneous

⁵ Number of households that have a functioning colour TV set.
Source: Estimations made on the basis of the data of household income and expenditure survey of the Statistical Office of Estonia; Ministry of Transport and Communications

Sources: ITU, Estonian Telephone Company
Comments: Estonian Telephone Company does not calculate such indicator.

Source: Estonian Telephone Company

5. The use of public network

5.1 Voice

⁶ – Includes only local calls, intra-country long-distance calls and calls from fixed telephone to mobile network
Source: Estonian Telephone Company

Comments: Other data is not available as Estonian Telephone Company is public enterprise and publishing of such information is regulated by stock rules.

5.2 Data

Traffic: Estonian Telephone Company does not publish data on sub-division as it is considered confidential; other companies and bodies do not own such information.

6. The telephone tariffs of historical operator

⁷ Business Customer/ Residential Customer
⁸ There is also call setup charge (starting from the 8^th second) 0,48 EEK (0.03 EUR)
⁹ Basic Tariff/ Reduced Tariff
Comments: Other data is not available.