Estonians may drive old cars and live in anti-sanitation conditions, but in the field of Internet and mobile communication, we are among the leaders in the CEEC region.

According to the survey ESIS, results of which became recently available, in several telecommunication categories, Estonia is the first in the CEEC region, in most of the categories it ranks second or third.

Estonia is the leader in the region in the total number of lines - conventional lines, mobile lines and ISDN-lines (51,7 lines for 100 people), in the number of mobile lines (17,2 for 100 people) and the number of computers connected to the Internet (15,7 for 1000 people).

Estonia has the second place in the CEEC region for the number of telephone sets for 100 people (38,9; Slovenia is the leader with 48,5). In the number of conventional lines for 100 people, we share the second place with Latvia (32,9; Slovenia is the leader with 48,5). Estonia has the third place for the number of payphones for 1000 people (1,9; Poland (2,6) and Lithuania (2,0) are in the lead) and for the number of TV sets (37; with Lithuania (54) and Latvia (39) in the lead). Estonia holds the fourth place in the number of computers for 100 people (5,9; with Slovenia (15,8), Poland (13,7) and Latvia (7,5) in the lead), although in this category, for Estonia only home computers were included while for other countries also the computers for professional use.

The least developed country in most of the categories in the CEEC region is Albania. However, the good results of Estonia are somewhat reduced by the fact that this survey did not have results for Macedonia, Bulgaria, Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary. The Baltic countries as a whole exceed the other CEEC countries for the number of television sets.

The level of the Western Europe

"For example, in the field of mobile phones penetration, we have reached the level of Western European countries" said Tarmo Kalvet, the project manager in the Archimedes Foundation. According to ESIS, there are an average of 74,3 lines for 100 people in the EU countries, out of those, the number of conventional lines is 49,2 and mobile lines 22,1. There are an average of 27,7 computers for 100 people and about 16,6 computers with Internet connections for 1000 people.

The results of the survey are available on the Internet at www.esis.ee The data for Estonia has been gathered by the Archimedes Foundation in co-operation with the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Ministry of Economy Affairs, Estonian Statistics Office, Estonian Telephone Company and several private companies.

Snow helps to promote the Internet

"The fast development of communication means may be connected to the temper of Estonians, snowy winters and long distances" said Mihkel Kraav, the deputy manager of EENet, Estonian education and science data communications network. "For instance, if we compare Nordic countries with the rest of the Western Europe, we see the same tendencies than when comparing Estonia to the other CEEC countries.

Out of the objective reasons, Kraav mentioned the fact that in the beginning of the 90-ies, Estonia started developing the Internet instead of its then competitor bit-net. For example, Latvia and Lithuania got a lot of bit-net equipment as a foreign aid and thus started developing a network that died out soon afterwards.

"Commonly, one of the preconditions for Internet development is a free of charge communications network for educational institutions. In terms of this, Estonia is again different from Latvia, where educational institutions have to pay for Internet connections" said Kraav.

Good monopoly?

According to the deputy chancellor of the Ministry of Transport and Communications Marju Laur, the fast development of mobile market has been caused by the fierce competition of three mobile operators.

On the contrary, according to Laur, in other communication sectors the positive factor has been the monopoly condition of the Estonian Telephone Company. "It has been of a great influence that in 1992, the Concession Agreement between the ETC and the Government was signed. The price of the transaction has raised some dispute, but the act itself was positive for Estonia – hardly any time after the tanks under the Television Tower were gone, some major investors took a risk to invest to our network. Due to that, we got a big lead before the other CEEC countries."

The initiative ESIS (European Survey of Information Society, http://www.ispo.cec.be/esis) was started in January, 1997 with the purpose to collect information about information society developments in EU countries. The collection of such information and its dissemination to wider public has been termed with acronym ESIS I and the project has been for two years been coordinated by European Commission’s Information Society Project Office (Information Society Project Office, ISPO, http://www.ispo.cec.be).

Encouraged by the experience of ESIS I it was decided to extend the ESIS survey to a number of Central and Eastern European (CEEC) and Mediterranean countries. This project is called ESIS II and has been launched in 25 countries in March 1999. European Union has guaranteed financing of the project for two years i.e. until 2001.

As a result of competition it was decided that the contractor for implementing Estonian Survey of Information Society is ARCHIMEDES Foundation and it is working in close co-operation with Estonian State Chancellery, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Communications Board, Statistical Board, Informatics Centre and with other organisations.

Conducting reports

The activities of the project include giving an overview to the European Commission and European and Estonian public about the developments of Estonian laws and regulations, information society infrastructure and relevant statistics by conducting reports covering those topics by the Estonian partners of the project. The EU co-ordinator of the project analyzes all the 25 countries covered in the project using the data gathered using the same methodology and creates a synthesis report about the whole area outlining the general trends.

The reports are updated every three months.

Creating the database

The other important part of the ESIS II project is creating a database, which consists of three parts:

• The Information Society projects database, which is made up of innovative projects which promote the development of the Information Society. The database covering the whole Europe (http://esis.kuntaliitto.fi) currently covers 1943 projects.

• The Information Society promotional activities database, which covers the promotional activities such as fairs, seminars, meetings, surveys, project calls etc.

• The "Who is Who" part of ther database includes information about the persons and organizations which play a key role in the developments of the Information Society, covering private, public and the third sector.

The database is updated every three months.

Your project in the database: how the European colleagues can find you.

For your project to be included in the European ESIS database, you should fill in the ESIS questionnaire distributed with the newsletter and send it to the contact address given at the bottom of the article. The questionnaire (including the electronic version) is also available at http://www.esis.ee/baas.html.

The first results are available

In the beginning of June, the first report of ESIS II, "Basic Facts and Indicators" was made public.

The results of the survey show among other things that since 1996, the number of telephone lines in the CEEC countries covered in the survey has been annually increasing over 20 per cent. The largest number of lines belong traditionally to the category of conventional lines (about 21 for 100 people) but the number of mobile lines is also quickly increasing (about 4,5 for 100 people).

The fast development of the Estonian telecommunications market can be observed in several categories. For example, with it’s 17,2 mobile phones for every 100 people and 15,7 computers connected to the Internet for every 1000 people, Estonia is the first among the CEEC countries.

The links to the results of the survey can be found at the website of the Estonian partners at www.esis.ee

Tarmo Kalvet
ESIS, Archimedes Foundation,
Kompanii 2, Tartu, 51007
tel. (27) 300 331
fax. (27) 300 336
e-mail: tarmo.kalvet@esis.ee
http://www.esis.ee

Teisipäev, 01. juuni 1999, 15:05 EE.POL EE.VAR EE.MAJ

(ETA-51 01.06.1999 01esis.txt spol)

TALLINN, 1. juuni. Eesti on seitsme postsotsialistliku riigi seas mobiiltelefonide leviku ning internetiühendusega arvutite osas esimene, selgub täna/teisipäeval avalikustatud üle-euroopalisest infokeskkonna arengu uuringust.

Tänavu märtsis Eestis käivitunud kaheaastase kestvusega uurimuse andmetel on Eestis iga saja elaniku kohta 17,2 mobiiltelefoni ning 15,7 internetiühendusega arvutit iga tuhande elaniku kohta.

Uuring, mis üldjuhul hõlmab kõiki Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopa riike, sisaldas seekord andmeid seitsme riigi - Albaania, Rumeenia, Poola, Leedu, Läti, Sloveenia ja Eesti kohta, teiste riikide kohta hetkel andmed puudusid, ütles ETAle

Sihtasutus Archimedes projekti juht Tarmo Kalvet.

Projekti ESIS (European Survey of Information Society) täna avaldatud esimestest tulemustest, mis annavad statistilise lühiülevaate telekommunikatsiooniturust ja infotehnoloogia rakendamisest, selgub muuhulgas, et alates 1996. aastast on uurimusega kaetud Kesk- ja Ida- Euroopa riikides telefoniühenduste arv kasvanud umbes 20 protsenti aastas.

Kõige rohkem on jätkuvalt tavalisi sideliine (umbes 21 liini 100 elaniku kohta), kuid kiiresti on kasvanud mobiilside kasutajate arv (umbes 4,5 ühendust 100 elaniku kohta).

Uurimuse tulemused on kõigile tasuta kättesaadavad internetist. Projekti Eesti veebilehekülg asub aadressil: www.esis.ee.

Peale infoühiskonna arenguid iseloomustavate raportite koostamise luuakse ja täiendatakse uuringu raames pidevalt infoühiskonna projektide andmebaasi. Selles osalemine võimaldab tutvustada planeeritavaid ja elluviidavaid projekte avalikkusele ning samuti aitab andmebaas kaasa partnerite leidmisele.

Andmebaasi küsimustik on saadaval projekti internetileheküljel.

Projekt ESIS kutsuti Euroopa Liidu riikides ellu 1997. aastal eesmärgiga koguda teavet Euroopa Liidu liikmesriikide infoühiskonna arengu kohta.

Programmi eduka käivitamise järel otsustati samalaadseid uurimusi teostada Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopa ning Vahemere regiooni riikides. Eestit puudutava uurimuse viib läbi Sihtasutus Archimedes koostöös riigikantselei riigi infosüsteemide

osakonnaga.

ETA

Tallinn, 1 June. According to an European survey of information society development, results of which were made public today, Estonia is the first among seven post-socialist countries in mobile phone penetration and the number of computers connected to the Internet.

According to the survey which started in March and will last for 2 years, in Estonia there are 17,2 mobile phones for every 100 people and 15,7 computers connected to the Internet for every 1000 people.

The survey, which normally covers all the CEEC countries, included 7 countries this time: Albania, Romania, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia. There was no data available for other countries yet, said the Project Manager in the Archimedes Foundation, Tarmo Kalvet, to ETA.

The first results of the project ESIS (European Survey of Information Society) which became public today and which give a statistical short overview of telecommunication market and IT application show among other things that since 1996, the number of telephone lines in the CEEC countries covered in the survey has been annually increasing over 20 per cent.

The largest number of lines belong traditionally to the category of conventional lines (about 21 for 100 people) but the number of mobile lines is also quickly increasing (about 4,5 for 100 people).

The results of the survey are freely available at the project’s web-site, which is located at www.esis.ee

Beside the reports describing information society developments, the project also aims to establish and update a database of Information Society projects. Being present in the database helps to promote the project in general public and also find new contacts and partners.

The questionnaire for the database is available at the project’s web-site.

The ESIS project in the EU countries was created in 1997 with the aim of gathering information about the Information Society developments in the EU countries.

After the success of the project, it was decided to conduct similar projects on the CEEC countries and the Mediterranean areas. The survey in Estonia is conducted by the Archimedes Foundation in co-operation with the Department of State Information Systems of the State Chancellery.

ETA.

BNS0121 4 TSI 0000 (XAR XTE) bns15.01. BNS - 15.01.06.99 11.46 M.L.

Eesti on interneti levikult Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopas esimene

TALLINN, 1. juuni, BNS - Eesti on interneti levikult Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopa maades esimesel kohal, selgus projekti "Uurimus Euroopa infoühiskonnast" (ESIS) tulemusena.

Selle aasta märtsis käivitunud kaheaastase kestusega uurimuse tulemusena on täheldatud Eestis telekommunikatsioonide eriti kiiret arengut, mis ilmneb eri kategooriates, ütles sihtasutuse Archimedes projektijuht Tarmo Kalvet teisipäeval BNS-ile.

"Näiteks mobiiltelefonide leviku osas - 17,2 telefoni 100 elaniku kohta ning internetiühendusega arvutite osas - 15,7 arvutit 1000 elaniku kohta on Eesti uurimusega kaetud Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopa riikide hulgas esimene," lausus Kalvet.

Teisipäeval avaldatud esimestest uurimuse tulemustest selgub muu hulgas, et alates 1996. aastast on uurimusega kaetud Kesk- ja Ida-Euroopa riikides telefoniühenduste arv kasvanud

umbes 20 protsenti aastas.

Kõike rohkem on jätkuvalt tavalisi sideliine, umbes 21 liini 100 elaniku kohta, kuid kiiresti on kasvanud mobiilside kasutajate arv, mis on umbes 4,5 ühendust 100 elaniku kohta.

Uurimuse tulemused on kõigile tasuta kättesaadavad internetist, projekti Eesti veebilehekülg asub aadressil www.esis.ee

Peale infoühiskonna arenguid iseloomustavate raportite koostamise luuakse ja täiendatakse pidevalt infoühiskonna projektide andmebaasi.

Andmebaasis osalemine võimaldab tutvustada planeeritavaid ja elluviidavaid projekte avalikkusele ning samuti aitab andmebaas kaasa partnerite leidmisele. Andmebaasi küsimustik on saadaval projekti internetileheküljel.

Projekt ESIS kutsuti Euroopa Liidu riikides ellu 1997. aastal eesmärgiga koguda teavet Euroopa Liidu liikmesriikide infoühiskonna arengu kohta. Eestit puudutava uurimuse viib läbi sihtasutus Archimedes koostöös riigikantselei riigi infosüsteemide osakonnaga.

Baltic News Service

011147 EET DST

TALLINN, 1 June 1999- According to the survey ESIS (European Survey of Information Society), Estonia is the first among the CEEC countries in the penetration of the Internet.

The survey which started in March and will last for 2 years, shows the fast development of Estonia in the field of telecommunications of different kinds, said the Project Manager in the Archimedes Foundation, Tarmo Kalvet, to BNS this Tuesday.

"For example, with it’s 17,2 mobile phones for every 100 people and 15,7 computers connected to the Internet for every 1000 people, Estonia is the first among the CEEC countries" said Kalvet.

The first results of the survey which became public today show among other things that since 1996, the number of telephone lines in the CEEC countries covered in the survey has been annually increasing over 20 per cent.

The largest number of lines belong traditionally to the category of conventional lines (about 21 for 100 people) but the number of mobile lines is also quickly increasing (about 4,5 for 100 people).

The results of the survey are freely available at the project’s web-site, which is located at www.esis.ee

Beside the reports describing information society developments, the project also aims to establish and update a database of Information Society projects.

Being present in the database helps to promote the project in general public and also find new contacts and partners. The questionnaire for the database is available at the project’s web-site.

The survey in Estonia is conducted by the Archimedes Foundation in co-operation with the Department of State Information Systems of the State Chancellery.

BNS