A total of 1,700 kilometers of fiber optic cabliing has been installed across Saaremaa. Another 4,800 kilometers would be needed to connect all the households on Estonia’s largest island.
Everyone living on Saaremaa can now use a map application to see how far their home is from a high-speed internet connection, fulfilling a commitment made by the Estonian government for 2030.
It took more than 7 years and cost €125,000, but now every islander see on the Digisaare map app how far away their household is located from the dream of having a high-speed internet via fiber optic cable. The app also shows how much it would cost to lay optical fiber cables underground. The amounts vary greatly across Saaremaa, ranging from hundreds of euros to more than €100,000 per household.
“It would cost around €60 million to cover the whole of Saaremaa, and a total of around 4,800 kilometers of fiber optic cable would have to be laid underground,” said Geospatial OÜ board member Andres Kärk.
However, it is not possible for individuals to order fiber optic cabling immediately for their own properties at the prices shown on the map application. The costs listed there would only apply if the entire region were to be provided with high-speed internet access.
The head of Digisaare said that although laying fiber optic cable is expensive, it does not involve high maintenance costs for decades to come, unlike over-the-air (OTA) data transmission.
“The connections aren’t going anywhere. Houses are built where they are and stay there, and we took this on as a once-in-a-lifetime project,” said Villu Vatsfeld, a member of Digisaare’s management board.
Although the map exists, for many people, fiber optic cables remain a dream, despite the government having pledged to the European Union that it would ensure high-speed internet access by 2030.
“This is unlikely to be achieved with the current budgetary resources. The plan is to launch a new regional development fund support measure, which we now hope to put out by the end of this year. The total budget allocated to Saare County is over €3 million. No more has been allocated at this time. The future financial period will also allow for funds to support the construction of broadband infrastructure,” said Raigo Iling, advisor to the communications markets department of the Ministry of Justice and Digital Affairs.
If laying fiber optic cable to connect 9,300 households in Saaremaa would cost around €60 million, connecting all the households in Estonia to a fiber optic cable would amount to somewhere in the region of €829 million.
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