Telia To Update its Service Portfolio This Year
Starting from March, Telia will renew its service portfolio, which will increase the value of several services and service plans, while less popular services will be reconfigured. As part of these changes, the prices of some services will also change.
These changes are motivated by the rapid increase in data traffic in recent years, especially in the use of various connectivity services, including internet and mobile services. This is a trend that is expected to continue in the coming years.
According to Telia's network statistics, data traffic in the company's mobile network has increased twenty-fold in the last eight years, and for Telia's landline internet network it has doubled in the last four years. At the same time, there has been a consistent growth in the demand for higher-capacity and faster internet plans. For example, the number of landline internet connection customers with a speed of at least 100 Mbit/s has tripled in the last five years.
Holger Haljand, the CEO of Telia Estonia, says that the rapid growth in data volumes and the increasing demand from customers for data plans with higher capacity indicate that it is the right time to bring several Telia services up to date.
"Since 2018, Telia Estonia has invested 330 million euros in its networks, services, quality, and sustainability, which is an average of 55 million euros per year. This investment surpasses the combined investments of our main competitors during the same period. We have always been a trendsetter and a quality leader in the Estonian market, daring to make significant and future-oriented decisions ahead of others, and our customers appreciate this.
In response to the growing needs of our customers, we are reshaping several communication service packages this year, increasing the value of services for customers, and updating the prices of some services. In making these changes, we take into account customer preferences, current consumption trends, future outlook for our services, company investments, as well as market and economic conditions. This enables us to continue providing customers with services with the highest added value and highest quality for everyday activities, work, and entertainment,” said Haljand.
According to Telia's CEO, it is crucial for the company to offer customers the best user experience in a situation where network loads have rapidly increased and will continue to do so.
"One of our priorities is to cover 95% of the Estonian population with fast and modern 5G internet by the end of 2024, enabling us to prepare for the future. For the same reason, Telia became the first mobile operator in Estonia to shut down the 3G network at the end of last year, and because of this, our customers can now use Estonia's most modern mobile network, which runs primarily on the newer 4G and 5G technologies," added Haljand.
Updates to Telia's service portfolio will take place gradually, and the first changes will reach customers in March.
As Telia's customers use different services and combinations thereof, the changes affecting customers will vary. There are customers for whom updating the service portfolio does not apply, as well as those for whom the changes affect multiple services and pricing.
Telia will notify personally everyone affected by the changes.
Notable Changes in Services
Mobile
To meet the evolving needs of our customers, Telia is streamlining and refreshing certain mobile plans. We will transition the customers of these plans to new, higher-capacity plans that offer more data and features. Additionally, the corresponding data allowances that customers can utilize while traveling within European Union countries (roaming in EU) will be increased. Some mobile package pricing will be affected by these modifications.
Home Internet
The demand for faster internet speeds has surged due to the rise of video streaming, remote work, video conferencing, and online gaming. In response to this growing demand, we will be eliminating some lower-speed home internet connections from our Home Internet service portfolio. Customers currently subscribed to these plans will be upgraded to higher-speed services. This change is intended to provide our customers with a superior user experience and prepare them for the anticipated increase in demand for faster internet connections.
TV Service
At Telia, we are committed to providing our TV service customers with exclusive and original content that they will enjoy. In 2023, Telia Inspira channel set numerous viewership records by airing Telia's original shows, such as "MasterChef Estonia," various live concerts (including NOËP, 2 Quick Start 30th-anniversary concert, Smilers, and more), and live broadcasts of major sporting events like the Paf Estonia-Latvia Basketball League and Disc Golf European Championships. In addition, Telia TV users have enthusiastically welcomed the free Inspira+ content environment, while the popular HBO series environment is continuously updated with fresh content.
In recent years, acquiring and producing high-quality TV content has become increasingly expensive, leading to rising input costs for TV services. In order to continue providing our customers with a diverse range of content and a constantly evolving, high-quality TV service, we will be making adjustments to some TV service prices in March. However, Telia is also excited to introduce several exciting new features for our TV customers in 2024, with more information to be shared in the coming months.