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Lithuania - Market Intelligence Report

Market Intelligence Reports provide an invaluable mix of vital market data and background information, including telecoms regulation.
Published: September 2006
Pages: 36

Lithuania's telecommunications services market was liberalised on January 1, 2003, which spelled the end of the exclusive rights granted to incumbent operator Lietuvos Telekomas (latterly TEO LT AB) to provide local, domestic long-distance, and international basic voice services. Until then, TEO LT had been the only provider of public fixed-line telephone networks and services in the country.

The Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) is the principal regulator of Lithuania's telecommunications market. According to the CRA, 47 companies or individuals have been authorised to provide public fixed telephone services in Lithuania, all of which were actually providing services as of June 2006, most of which were providing retail services. Public fixed telephone services are mainly provided through the national network of TEO LT and using packet-switched technology (IP/VoIP). Internet access services are not regulated in Lithuania. By June 2006, 115 companies or individuals provided Internet access services in Lithuania, serving a total of 1.44 million customers (of which 113,900 used ADSL broadband connections).

By the end of June 2006, 11 service providers were offering public mobile telephone services in Lithuania: network operators UAB Omnitel, UAB Bité Lietuva, and UAB Tele2; four mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) which provided their services via the Bité Lietuva network; and, four resellers, also offering services via the Bité network. As of June 2006, there were 5.92 million cellular subscribers in Lithuania, of which 4.41 million were said to have been 'active'.

At the beginning of August 2005, the CRA launched a public consultation on the terms of a public tender of third-generation (3G) universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) frequencies and licences in Lithuania. Three 20-year licences were subsequently awarded, in February 2006, to the country's three existing cellular network operators.

According to the CRA, Lithuania's telecommunications market was valued at LTL2,515.5 million in 2005, up by 17.7% from LTL2,136.8 million in 2004. These figures are based on the revenues of all of the major players in the country and include revenues from public fixed telephone networks and/or services, mobile telephony networks and/or services, leased lines, the provision of Internet access services, network interconnection services, cable TV/MMDS services, data transmission services, and radio/TV transmission services. CRA notes that revenues from the provision of public mobile telecommunications networks and services accounted for nearly 47% of total revenues in 2005.



This Market Intelligence Report was produced as part of
Communications Markets Analysis (CMA).

For more information on CMA, click here.