2017 Estonia - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Digital Media - Statistics and Analyses

Estonia’s incumbent telco to close DSL-based services by end-2020

Estonia’s telecom market continues to benefit from a range of regulatory measures which have encouraged competition, enabling alternative operators to chip away at the fixed-line market share of the incumbent Telia. Fixed-line infrastructure upgrades have been geared to supporting bundled offerings, and this process has prompted Telia to stop services based on DSL by the end of 2020. Instead, services will be carried over the operator’s VDSL, fibre and G.fast infrastructure, supplemented by LTE in rural areas.

Estonia has one of the most advanced mobile markets in Europe, having benefitted from considerable investment from the mobile network operators Telia, Elisa and Tele2. The market enjoys effective competition, although the MVNO sector remains underdeveloped. Operator investment in HSPA and LTE technologies has underscored the growing mobile broadband sector. The launch of LTE-A services has also provided far higher data rates, bringing the county to the forefront of such developments in the region and supporting a range of mobile data services and applications. Operators are engaged in 5G trials, which will further underpin revenue growth in coming years once services become commercially available from about 2020.

The country also has one of the highest broadband penetration rates in Europe, supported by comprehensive DSL infrastructure and an extensive reach of cable and fibre networks. Elisa’s acquisition of the principal cableco Starman in March 2017 will enable the operator to offer a more comprehensive suite of bundled services, and so compete more effectively with Telia.

High broadband penetration has underpinned Estonia’s emerging internet economy, with various e-commerce, e-government, e-education and e-health services available and widely used. The cable TV market is well developed and hence cable TV operators have been well-positioned to offer bundled play services.

This report provides statistics and an overview of broadband market developments and trends in Estonia, as well as forecasts to 2022. It also includes major market developments in the country’s converging media and digital economy.

This report provides an overview of Estonia’s telecom market, the performance of the largely international players, recent regulatory developments, and the status of fixed-line networks and the NGN. It also includes a range of operating and financial data.

This report provides a concise overview of Estonia’s mobile market as players further develop the data sector. It covers the major players, regulatory developments, services offered and a variety of financial and operating statistics.

Key developments:

• Tele2 Estonia inaugurates 3,000km Baltic Highway cable linking to central and western Europe;
• Tele2 buys the telco Televörgu;
• ICT revenue broaches €3.4 billion;
• Telia Estonia and Tele2 Estonia trial 5G services;
• Tele2 rolls out CA LTE-A services in major cities;
• Elisa providing 99% population coverage with LTE, trials LTE-A technology;
• Tele2 launches platform to manage M2M connections;
• Telia Estonia partners with Sigfox to develop its LPWA platform;
• Elisa acquires Starman’s Estonian business;
• Report update includes operator data to Q4 2016, Statistics Estonia data to December 2015, the regulator’s market data updates and 2015 annual report, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Elisa, Tele2 Estonia, Telia Estonia (Elion), Starman, STV, Viasat, Levira, Baltic Broadband.