Evelin Tulp, head of Elisa's telecom services, said the price rise was a necessary response to a rise in input costs.

"The volatility of the business environment has led to a rise in input costs for the company, while rapid inflation has led to an increase the prices of outsourced products and services to an even greater extent," Tulp told ERR, via a spokesperson.

Elisa's official notice, sent to customers, stated that from April 1 this year, monthly fees will rise by €1.99 per service package.

Elisa has made large annual investments in infrastructure development, as well as in original content production and artificial intelligence solutions, the company says.

These significant investments are required to remain sustainable, and total tens of millions of euros per year, Tulp added.

Tele2 prices to rise by around 15 percent

Ines Estrin, marketing director at competitor Tele2, also told ERR the company would be upping its prices, by around 15 percent in this case.

"In order to maintain reasonable prices, we plan to transfer both private and business customers to more modern packages," Estrin said.

"With both private and business customers, the price rise for new packages will remain at about 15 percent and largely depends on the package in question. We will certainly be informing our customers about package changes in good time," Estrin went on.

The price hikes were also made due to necessary investments in meeting customer expectations and to reflect usage habits and industry changes, Estrin said, adding that Tele2, too, had seen higher input and operating costs.

Estrin also recommended that customers review their current packages, to assess whether they meet their needs.

Telia not planning any tariff increases

Telia, the other of the three market leading telecoms firms in Estonia, meanwhile said no immediate price hikes were on the horizon.

Spokesperson for the company Raigo Neudorf said: "The economic environment as a whole still faces several challenges, while we are naturally monitoring the impact of these on our own operations as well. However, there are currently no plans to change mobile services' prices."

As reported by ERR News, all three companies had at the end of 2022 announced they would be increasing their prices in the coming year, again citing investment costs and input costs.

All three companies won licenses to operate 5G networks in Estonia, via a series of auctions held last year.

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