Ordering a new mobile phone online could not be easier. Prices are clear, store offers are easy to compare and once you've chosen the best option, the purchase can be made with just a few clicks. But a phone alone is useless — you also need a mobile plan. And in Estonia, finding the most affordable one is surprisingly complicated.

While a person can compare price tags to choose the cheapest phone, the actual cost of mobile plans is nowhere to be found online. Yes, there's some information, but if you want the real, lower price, you have to start switching operators and hope someone calls you back with a better deal.

If you're especially lucky, you might even get a few calls and maybe one operator will finally offer a price that matches your actual usage pattern. But only if you're willing and know how to haggle in this semi-secret marketplace. Profit expectations are fair, but the current situation is far too convenient for telecom companies and real competition for customers only begins when the customer threatens to leave. This must change in Estonia for the benefit of consumers.

How to bring prices down for the consumer?

It must be admitted that the confusion around mobile plan prices is absurd. Estonia prides itself on being an advanced digital nation where even starting a business or completing notarial acts takes just a few clicks. Yet switching mobile operators takes four to six business days — more than a week.

During that time, operators have plenty of opportunities to chase after the departing customer and finally offer them a discount. This means the best price is never the one you see in the price list, but the one you only get by threatening to leave your current provider. Prices are no longer based on actual needs or usage but on bargaining power. Real prices aren't published online — consumers must negotiate their way to a fair deal.

This system is not fair. Customers who don't search or negotiate end up subsidizing discounts for others. They pay more than the real price — the hidden one, offered only later. My goal is fair competition in the interest of consumers, where people can immediately choose between the true prices.

For that reason, we proposed a legal amendment, which has now completed the review process. The new system would allow number portability within a maximum of five hours. A short switching time would ensure that retaining customers depends mainly on what they're offered before — not after — submitting a termination request. The biggest players reacted differently: Tele2 wanted even faster switching, while Telia and Elisa preferred keeping the current long, convenient period. Consumers win when the right price — the lower one — is visible and comparable right away.

I will add in advance that we are also considering an option where number portability would happen immediately upon receiving a SIM card — that is, at the first possible moment.

Other countries have done the same to the benefit of consumers

Technically, Estonia already has everything needed for faster number portability. Solutions have been tested here, eSIMs are available and automated processes can also handle physical SIM cards.

European countries that have imposed strict rules banning win-back offers and requiring rapid number portability have clearly shown that change benefits everyone. In France, for example, where number portability must be completed within one business day and off-list offers are prohibited, the number of customers switching providers doubled in just the first year. Competition increased, prices dropped and transparency improved. Consumers were the biggest winners.

Canada, Australia and the United States likewise show that fast, transparent number portability saves consumers money and drives prices lower. Telecom operators there also claimed that if they couldn't make counteroffers, consumers would miss out on the best deals. In reality, consumers got the best deals once the market was designed so that competition happened in the open, not behind closed doors.

In Estonia, the situation is the opposite. Each year, about 140,000 number transfers are initiated, but more than half are canceled. Most likely this happens after the customer receives a better deal from their current provider. These are the true, fair prices — yet they never appear in the public price list and aren't available to everyone. That isn't normal market behavior; it's a system that rewards silence and passivity over clear choices and equal treatment.

I see no reason why Estonia should settle for a second-rate standard. If we can deliver world-class digital services in other fields, why shouldn't switching telecom providers be as simple as choosing a new music app? I believe Estonia could set an example for all of Europe in this area — not only through technology, but also by showing the values of fairness and equal pricing for all.

The best price now

One might ask why the state should intervene in the free market. But this is not about regulation — it is about restoring fair competition, ensuring price transparency and giving consumers access to the best offers. Right now, market conditions are not equal and price formation is not transparent. If the cost of a service depends on whether someone dares to initiate number portability or not, then it's not really a market — it's a lottery.

Faster number portability would mean operators have no time to improvise and it wouldn't matter whether the customer is outspoken or quiet. The offer has to be good from the very start. This forces providers to price more honestly and shifts the focus where it belongs — on service quality and customer satisfaction. That is the true measure of a healthy market, not the ability to promise something extra at the last minute.

For those who fear the change will disrupt the system, it's worth looking at other countries' experiences. Nothing broke. On the contrary, markets improved. There were more choices, prices became easier to compare and customer satisfaction grew. In Estonia, all of this is technically possible. The only question now is whether we have the courage to give consumers back their fair position and compel the market to operate more honestly.

We don't need a negotiation theater — we need transparency. If we want mobile plans to be as clear and reliable as any other product, the starting point must be allowing customers to move quickly to the best provider. Not through threats or haggling, but simply and with dignity. Just as you'd expect in a digital nation.

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