WORLDWIDE MARKET RESEARCH REPORT - CISE

EC/IST FP6 Project No 026920
Work Package: 6
Type of document: Report
Date: 20.12.2007
File name: OP_WP6_D37_V1.0.doc Version: 1.0
Title: Worldwide Market Research Report 125 / 356
Hungary
Hungary's telecommunication network has until recently been underdeveloped both from a
technological and a service standpoint. But partial privatization of the state telephone
company Matáv in 1993 and the planned introduction of competition for land-based
telephone lines in 2002 has led to many important changes. Among these has been a
spectacular growth in cellular phone services and ownership, with the number of mobile
phone subscribers estimated at more than 3 million in 2000. There were 3 companies
providing cellular service in 2001.
Under communism the telecommunication system was underdeveloped and poorly
operated. Even in the first half of the 1990s, Hungarians often had to wait more than a year
to have a fixed telephone line installed. This situation has changed quickly in recent years,
however. The domestic phone network is now digitized and highly automated and is able to
provide almost any telecommunication service need. Trunk services are carried by fiber-
optic cable and digital microwave radio relay. Hungary has fiber-optic cable connections with
all neighboring countries. Internet activity has also grown significantly in Hungary.
Latvia
Privatization has caused a reconstruction in Latvia's telecommunications network. In 1994,
49% of the system was sold to a British-Finnish telecommunications consortium and
international communications became available at standard international rates. The
privatized telecommunications company, Lattelcom, is working toward a fully digitized
network by 2012, thus alleviating the problem of unmet demand due to a shortage of lines.
Lithuania
The telecommunications market in Lithuania is liberalized since 2002, when the fixed-line
telephony Lietuvos Telekomas terminated its monopoly. A national fiber-optic cable system
is nearing completion, and rural exchanges are being improved and expanded. Mobile
cellular systems are functioning and rather widely accessible. Access to internet is growing,
and by 1999, there were 10 internet service providers.