Tele2, the smallest operator in the market, is fully in favor of the change as proposed by the Ministry of Justice, while Telia and Elisa are opposed.

The bill, if it passed into law, would allow customers to switch suppliers in as little time as 15 minutes, compared with the several days taken at present. The bill's framers say this will cut out anti-competitive practices such as providers undercutting a rival's offer, to keep a customer from leaving, rather than providing that customer with that lower price from the outset.

"The current system has created a very poor practice in the telecoms market, where more than half of the number of portability processes are stopped because they were initiated solely to obtain a better price from the existing operator. This is actually a very costly process for consumers, telecom operators, and the state alike," said Tele2 CEO Margus Nõlvak.

Telia and Elisa say that rapid operator switching could initially cause a lot of confusion, adding that customers should be given more time to think things through.

"In our view, competition in the telecom market is already functioning today, and everyone is fighting to retain their customers as it is. Ultra-fast number portability will not reduce prices, but rather leave the customer without the best offer and proper explanations," Evelin Tulp, head of telecom services at Elisa, said.

Telia took the same view. "If this process becomes very fast and people are pressured to make a decision very quickly, they may not have time to consider whether they have a fixed-term contract with their current service provider, whether there are other benefits they would lose, and they would not have time to reflect."

Telia says the buffer period for switching operators should be one working day, while Elisa proposes that number transfers should take place at night, when network loads are at their lowest.

Beyond wait times, the process will not change so far as the customer is concerned, but may increase the use of eSIMs, Nõlvak added. Newer phones permit the use of these, currently used by just under 5 percent of customers.

Each year in Estonia, nearly 70,000 number porting processes, where users want to take their existing number to another provider, are left uncompleted, the ministry said, adding that the lengthy period of time it takes is a reason.

"The other objective is to increase competition in the market. If today a telecom operator starts actively making better offers to its customer only when the customer says they are leaving and switching operators, then in the future this should mean that customers must be retained on a daily basis, with constant effort to ensure they want to stay with you," said Mart Laas, head of the communications markets department at the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs.

A prerequisite for speeding up the process is the creation of a new database, which is already underway, the ministry said.

A little under two years ago, Tele2 reported 2023 revenues in Estonia of €61.71 million, Elisa €226 million, while Telia had the highest figure at €361 million.

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