Telecommunications in Slovakia

Telephone

Fixed lines

As in most post-communist Central European countries, the fixed line market in Slovakia was liberalised only recently. Slovak Telecom Inc. (former Slovenské Telekomunikácie, a.s.) was privatised on July 18, 2000. The 51% package of shares was purchased by the German Deutsche Telecom AG for 1 bln. EUR (more than 44 bln. SKK at that time). The outstanding 49% of the shares are still owned by the Slovak government through the Department of Transport, Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic (34%) and the National Property Fund (15%). As part of the privatisation contract, Deutsche Telecom agreed to provide full digitalisation of the fixed line network by the end of December 2004. Slovak Telecom was rebranded to T-Com in the year 2003.^[1] The legal regulation for liberalisation of the Slovak fixed line market was passed in 2002 and became valid by 1 January 2003, finally allowing competition in the sector of fixed lines.^[2]

Currently, there are more than 100 companies licenced to provide public telephone service in the form of fixed lines,^[3] although many of these do not offer commercial service to the wider public. The most notable country-wide providers are T-Com, Orange, Dial Telecom, SWAN and UPC. Several regional providers also operate in the market. Many of these offer triple-play services consisting of a fixed line service, broadband internet access and access to television programmes. The number of triple-play customers has doubled since the service was introduced and currently peaks at 78,049 subscribers.^{[4][note 1]}

Key figures of the fixed lines sector

^{[note 2]}

• Total Number of Main Telephone Lines (MTLs): 994 421 ^[5]
• Density of MTLs: 18,31 per 100 inhabitants ^[5]
• Percent of MTLs connected to digital exchanges: 100% ^[5]
• Percent of households with MTLs: 38.97% ^[5]

Due to strong penetration of the Slovak market by mobile phones, the fixed lines sector has decreased dramatically in recent years. While there were 1,655,380 fixed lines in use by 1999, their number decreased to the current 994,421.^{[5][note 2]}

Mobile cellular

Mobile communication in Slovakia became first available in the early 90's with the first NMT network operator being EuroTel Bratislava, a.s., a subsidiary of the then state owned Slovenské Telekomunikácie a.s. EuroTel introduced the first GSM service to public in 1997. EuroTel was privatised together with its mother company and was rebranded to T-Mobile on May 3, 2005. It is now fully integrated in the international T-Mobile brand. The second GSM network operator started its operation on January the 15th 1997 under the name GlobTel a.s. It was acquired by France Telecom (through Atlas Services Belgium, 100% shares) and rebranded to Orange Slovakia on March 27, 2002. Telefónica O2, the third mobile operator in Slovakia, entered the market in February 2007 under the O2 brand.

Recently virtual providers became active in the Slovak market, the most notable of them being Tesco Mobile (associated with Tesco Stores) and FunFón (a virtual operator associated with a popular FM radio station).

Key figures of the mobile cellular sector:^{[note 2]}

• Total number of active mobile subscribers: 5,707,534^{[5][note 3]}
• Density of mobile subscribers: 105.12 per 100 inhabitants^[5]
• Coverage of land - GSM: 95.9%^[5]
• Coverage of population - GSM: 99.6%^[5]

Telephone system

• International:
  • country code - +421
  • There are three international exchanges, one in Bratislava and two in Banská Bystrica

• Emergency calls:
  • 112 - EU standard integrated emergency service (one nation-wide callcentre directly connected to police, EMS, firefighters, Mountain Rescue Service and others)
  • 158 - direct callcentre - Police
  • 155 - direct callcentre - EMS (features doctors available for consultations online)
  • 150 - direct callcentre - Firefighters
  • 18300 - direct callcentre - Mountain Rescue Service

Radio

Radio broadcast stations:

AM 15, FM 78, shortwave 2 (1998)

Radios:

3.12 million (1997)

ТV

Television broadcast stations:

6 national broadcasting, 7 regional, 67 local (2004)

Televisions:

2.62 million (1997)

Internet

Slovakia currently has a large number of full-area ISP's that offer wired broadband internet connections. Most notable of them include T-Com, T-Mobile, Orange Slovensko and UPC. They offer a range of connections, from ADSL / ADSL2+ to "Fibernet". ADSL or ADSL2+ is available in almost every town in Slovakia.

Key figures of the internet sector:^{[note 2]}

• Internet country code (TLD): .sk
• Number of host computers: 962,778^[6]
• Number of Internet subscribers: 2,539,672^{[6][note 4]}
• Density of Internet subscribers: 46,77 per 100 inhabitants^[6]
• Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 864 ^{[3][note 5]}

Notes

1. ^ Figure is as of 30 June 2010, as opposed to 41,734 subscribers by 20 June 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b c d} As of 30 June 2010
3. ^ The total number of active mobile subscribers includes industrial applications such as Alarm systems for example that use a SIM card for GSM based communication.
4. ^ Both fixed-line and mobile subscribers included
5. ^ ISPs here defined as companies licenced to provide internet access services to the public

References

1. ^ Ako prebiehala privatizácia ST? (2000) Retrieved 21.12.2010
2. ^ Mýty o liberalizácii telekomunikačného trhu (zive.sk,Roman Záhorec,2002) Retrieved 21.12.2010
3. ^ ^{a b} Providers of networks and services (Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic) Retrieved 21.12.2010
4. ^ Other Electronic Communication Services - Bundled Offers (Department of Transport,Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic,2010) Retrieved 21.12.2010
5. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Telecomunication Infrastructure (Department of Transport,Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic,2010) Retrieved 21.12.2010
6. ^ ^{a b c} Internet (Department of Transport,Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic,2010) Retrieved 21.12.2010

External links

• http://www.telecom.gov.sk/ - Department of Transport,Construction and Regional Development of the Slovak Republic
• http://www.teleoff.gov.sk/ - Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Slovak Republic
• http://www.sk-nic.sk/ - SK-NIC, a.s. - Slovak TLD registry
• http://www.six.sk/ - Slovak Internet Exchange

See also

• Slovakia