At the beginning of the week, the Technical Regulatory Authority announced the network company Elektrilevi as the successful tenderer in the “last mile” competition for the high-speed internet network. The 40,000 addresses submitted in the competition are just one, state-supported part of Elektrilevi’s plans for the construction of a communications network. Along with Elektrilevi’s own investments, connections are planned to be created for at least 100,000 addresses, or considering apartments separately, for 200,000 households.

“At the last mile competition, the task was to carry out an analysis and submit the number of connections Elektrilevi is able to create in regions marked as the so-called white area with the help of the amount designated by the state for support,” explained Taavo Randna, Member of the Board of Elektrilevi. The white area are regions where currently there is no quality internet service and where Estonian communication operators are not planning to invest in over the next five years. “With the support of 20 million euros, we are able to connect 40,000 buildings in these regions to the high-speed internet network in the next five years.”

He added, however, that Elektrilevi’s plans regarding the construction of the high-speed internet network are much bigger and they include regions outside the white area as well. “In total, we will be able to connect more than 100,000 buildings to the high-speed internet network within the next five years. It includes both private houses and apartment buildings. By reducing that number to single households, then we will be able to create a high-speed internet connection for at least 200,000 homes,” Randna specified.

The number of households to be connected will probably increase in the course of investments. “We have made the initial plans considering the requests and the development plans for the power grid. But as we start building in an area, then it will be possible to connect more homes to the network than planned,” he added and promised that local residents will be informed in each region before the construction works start, and they will be collecting additional subscription requests.

Elektrilevi’s tender for the construction of the “last mile” communications network was declared the best on 26th October. After 30 days of the disclosure of the results, that is at the end of November, the Technical Regulatory Authority will enter into contract with the successful tenderer. After that, Elektrilevi will be able to introduce the plans for the construction of a high-speed internet network also by counties.

Elektrilevi is the largest network company in Estonia, managing approximately 60,000 kilometres of power lines and 24,000 substations. In addition, Elektrilevi manages the street lighting networks in Tallinn and Tartu, and has constructed a high-speed internet network to Veskimetsa, Tallinn.