Lithuania [ˌlɪθuˈeɪniə], officially the Republic of Lithuania (Lithuanian: Lietuvos Respublika) is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the southwest. Lithuania is a member of NATO, the Council of Europe, and the European Union. Lithuania became a full member of the Schengen Agreement on 21 December 2007. With a consistent growth of mobile users in Lithuania, we can monetize this using Premium SMS via Global Accés
During the 14th century, Lithuania was the largest country in Europe: present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia were territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. With the Lublin Union of 1569 Poland and Lithuania formed a new state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772 to 1795, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuania's territory. In the aftermath of World War I, Lithuania's Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, declaring the re-establishment of a sovereign state. Starting in 1940, Lithuania was occupied first by the Soviet Union then Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end in 1944 and the Nazis retreated, the Soviet Union reoccupied Lithuania. On 11 March 1990, Lithuania became the first Soviet republic to declare its renewed independence. Prior to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009, post-Soviet Lithuania had one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union.


Economy
In 2003, before joining the European Union, Lithuania had the highest economic growth rate amongst all candidate and member countries, reaching 8.8% in the third quarter. In 2004 — 7.3%; 2005 — 7.6%; 2006 — 7.4%; 2007 — 8.8%, 2008 Q1 — 7.0% growth in GDP reflects the impressive economic development. Most of the trade Lithuania conducts is within the European Union.


By UN classification, Lithuania is a country with high average income. The country boasts a well developed modern infrastructure of railways, airports and four-lane highways. As of October 2008, the unemployment rate is 4.7%. According to officially published figures, EU membership fueled a booming economy, increased outsourcing into the country, and boosted the tourism sector. The litas, the national currency, has been pegged to the euro since 2 February 2002 at the rate of EUR 1.00 = LTL 3.4528, and Lithuania is expecting to switch to the euro on 1 January 2013. There is gradual but consistent shift towards a knowledge-based economy with special emphasis on biotechnology (industrial and diagnostic) – major biotechnology producers in the Baltic countries are concentrated in Lithuania – as well as laser equipment. Also mechatronics and information technology (IT) are seen as prospective knowledge-based economy directions in Lithuania.
Lithuania - Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts

BuddeComm’s Annual Publication, ‘Telecoms, Mobile, Broadband and Forecasts in Lithuania’, provides a comprehensive overview of the trends, developments and market forecasts in the telecommunications and converging media markets in Lithuania.

Since independence, Lithuania embraced market reform and joined the European Union, overseeing rapid economic growth characterised by large real wage increases driven by declining unemployment and emigration, EU sourced development funds and extremely rapid credit growth. Like its Baltic neighbours to the north the global financial turmoil brought a sudden end to Lithuania’s boom, with eight years of consistent annual growth giving way to forecasts of a 10% contraction of the economy in 2009.

Despite the difficult conditions the telecoms market is expected to fare well given the essential nature of most telecom services although it may accelerate ongoing trends such as fixed mobile substitution, evident by an annual decrease in fixed telephony revenue and lines in service.

Internet services are widely available in Lithuania, with broadband representing 99% of Internet connections. Healthy infrastructure-based competition is evident by the falling fixed broadband access average revenue per user levels of telecoms incumbent TEO, which is the largest ISP with 50% of total fixed broadband subscriptions. Alternative broadband access platforms include cable, fibre and wireless.

However the competitive landscape continues to evolve as mobile network operators aggressively price mobile broadband services at rates competitive to those of fixed-line services. With broadband access becoming increasingly commoditised, service providers are shifting focus to Internet-based convergence services such as broadband TV (IPTV) or bundling of separate services to increase ARPU levels.

Widespread Internet usage is forming the basis of an Internet economy, characterised by businesses and government bodies operating online in hopes of reaping benefits such as improved efficiency, convenience, and accessibility. Take up of such services is expected to increase as the number of Internet users rises and familiarity with such services grows.

Lithuania’s mobile sector remains the largest despite its share of total telecom market revenue falling from 47% to 44%. SIM card penetration has surpassed 100% with GSM/WCDMA services available via several mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators. To grow revenue service providers are focusing on increasing usage and hence revenue per subscriber, mainly in the form of minutes of use and marketing of HSDPA-based mobile broadband services. The latter holds much promise given the current low mobile broadband penetration levels and hence strong annual growth rates of mobile broadband take up.


Key highlights:
*Broadband accounts for almost 100% of all fixed Internet subscriptions. Rapid growth has elevated fibre to the second most popular fixed broadband access platform. Rural broadband has received a boost following completion of a publicly funded rural fibre backbone network, the Rural Area Information Technology Broadband Network (RAIN). An open access philosophy ensures all operators can access the network on a wholesale basis only, with approximately 7,000km of fibre on the network rented as of early 2009. Future efforts centre on developing beneficial administrative, educational, commercial, administrative and culture online services.


* Widespread business usage of e-government services is evident, with 75% uptake as businesses take advantage of the ability obtain information, forms and return forms online. Private uptake of e-government lags but is expected to grow on the back of increased awareness and recognition of its benefits. Similar initiatives extend to the health and education sectors, with the scope of such initiatives expected to broaden due to EU commitments to online services.


* IPTV is the most popular method of access digital TV. Telecoms incumbent TEO is well positioned to take advantage of the growing interest and uptake of digital TV services, given that it offers both IPTV and digital terrestrial TV services. The proportion of cable TV subscribers on digital services is low, presenting an opportunity for cable TV operators to introduce improved and potentially higher-priced service offerings.


* Mobile broadband is the next growth opportunity for mobile network operators, with take up of HSDPA-based mobile broadband penetration at only 6%. Competition will increase as mobile WiMAX services are available from Lithuanian Radio and TV Centre (LRTC) and cable TV operator Balticum TV. The future growth path of mobile broadband take up is expected to emulate that of the mobile voice market over the coming years as the cost of access and capable handsets decrease and end user awareness and ease of use increases, in turn leading to some cannibalisation of broadband subscribers between the fixed and mobile markets.


.

news from marketresearch

 

 

 

Copyright © 2009-2010 LithuaniaSms.com