Interest Wanes In Estonia's Final 3G Licence

BMI has long expressed its scepticism regarding the prospects for a new entrant in the Estonian mobile market. While mobile telephony is very popular in the Baltic state, the market is already saturated, with penetration rates of over 100% since 2005. Furthermore, there are already three GSM operators fighting it out in a market with a population of just 1.4mn. However, unlike elsewhere in Europe, operators have not aggressively promoted 3G services. While mobile market leader EMT launched 3G in Q405, competitors Elisa Eesti and Tele2 have yet to roll out full commercial services. Furthermore, the three operators have negotiated a network sharing agreement that will cover most of Estonia, which BMI sees as evidence of their reluctance to invest too heavily in the service.

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