According to the Communications Regulatory Authority of the Republic of Lithuania (hereinafter referred to as the “RRT”) data, total revenue of the Lithuanian communications sector continued to grow from 2016 to 2017. In 2017, total revenue reached 827.9 million EUR and rose by 5.2 percent or 41 million EUR compared to 2016. Notably, total revenue in each of the markets comprising this sector has increased: in the postal services market it rose by 12.6 percent or 16.4 million EUR while in the electronic communications market it rose by 3.8 percent or 24.6 million EUR. In 2017, electronic communications market revenue represented 82.2 percent (compared to 83.4 percent in 2016) and postal services market 17.8 percent of the total communications sector revenue (compared 16.6 percent in 2016).
In 2017, investment in the electronic communications infrastructure amounted to 76.9 million EUR, which is 20.9 million EUR less compared to 2016. In 2017, the ratio of investment in the electronic communications infrastructure against the total market revenue was 11.3 percent, which is 3.6 percentage points lower than in 2016. In 2017, similarly as in the years prior, the majority of investments were made in broadband networks: Long Term Evolution (LTE) and fibre optic networks.
In 2017, like the years before, total revenue of service providers continued to grow. It was accumulated mostly on the basis of retail internet access services provided using LTE technologies. In 2017, the revenue reached 120.6 million EUR and increased by 33 percent or 29.9 million EUR compared to 2016. Notably, compared to previous periods, the largest revenue growth (in Euro) was recorded in 2017. In 2017, the influence in this sector was distributed as follows: UAB “Tele2” held 34.1 percent of the market, AB “Telia Lietuva” 33.2 percent, UAB “Bitė Lietuva” 28 percent and AB “Lietuvos Radijo ir Televizijos Centras” held 3.9 percent of the market.
In the electronic communications market, the most notable change of 2017 was a significant decrease in international roaming prices for travelling Lithuanians. Data transmission services prices dropped by 7-10 times. As a result of the decreased prices, the use of these services has increased very rapidly: as the new European Union regulation came into force in the middle of 2017, the volume of voice calls and text messages increased by 2-3 times while the use of data transmission services – increased by up to 10 times. In 2017, the duration of calls initiated by Lithuanian users of public mobile telephone network while visiting foreign countries came to 186.1 million minutes (compared to 86.4 million minutes in 2016). Compared to 2012, this indicator has increased by 5.74 times.
Overview of the Lithuanian Communications Sector for 2017 was prepared based on the data provided to the RRT by electronic communications operators and service providers as well as postal service providers on their activities of providing electronic communications and postal services in 2017. Full Lithuanian Communications Sector Report for 2017 can be found on the RRT website www.rrt.lt.
Updated on 2018-07-30