Competition Authority (Konkurentsiamet) Director General Evelin Pärn-Lee told "Aktuaalne kaamera" the authority's hands are tied.

She said: "that is not our assessment In the case of the telecommunications market."

"We currently have neither the basis nor the incentive to say that there has been any abuse of a dominant market position. In an oligopoly market, it is more beneficial for market players to watch each other's actions than to compete, as if they were to compete, they would all lose out," Pärn-Lee went on.

"In tracking each other's actions, they all benefit. But now you inquire why the Competition Authority doesn't do anything? This is because, for the Competition Authority to intervene, there should t be a clear violation, and identifying such a clear violation can be challenging for the authority," she went on.

Meanwhile the Consumer Protection and Technical Regulatory Authority (TTJA) has said the current situation has placed consumers in an uncomfortable position.

In a written response to ERR's questions, the authority stated: "The TTJA understands consumers' frustration, especially when news of telecommunications service price increases is juxtaposed with those companies' profit results. The price of telecommunications services is however determined under market economy conditions, something which the state cannot intervene in."

Telecommunications companies, spearheaded by Telia, the market leader, have boosted their service prices, resulting in a growth in profits of several million euros over the past year.

Telia Eesti CEO Holger Haljand put the net profit figure for 2023 at €63 million, including €54 million invested.

"This means that we really need continuously to maintain a net profit reserve of that type, as our investment needs are so significant.

"If anything happens to our networks, we need to be able to finance those investments, including everything related to our operational continuity and storms," Haljand added.

Telia Eesti's net profit increased by €8.7 million over the past year, yet at the start of the year the company announced mobile, internet, and television packages price hikes to customers.

Telia's Swedish parent company is to withdraw €80.9 million in dividends from the profits earned in Estonia this year

Elisa, the second-largest market player and who have also announced price hikes, enjoyed a rise in profits of €12.5 million.

Mailiis Ploomann, a member of Elisa Estonia's management board, said that the entire sector has in the past, as recently as three to six years ago, acted as an "inflation buffer."

"We have always been the ones with negative growth, even when inflation was higher," she said, adding: "Now, since the costs of our two main inputs—electricity and labor—have started to rise, the telecommunications sector has also had to begin boosting prices."

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