The situation is quite the same here in Estonia, the unwilling former Soviet republic. All three GSM operators are required by law to provide equipment that allows the defence police to tap into any phonecall. Until recently this was simply a legal requirement, but at this point all three (if I'm not mistaken) have actually purchased and set up these systems.
The legal side of listening to a specific phonecall is a completely separate matter.
This could mean that a tiny fraction who do a ton of transactions (medium-size business, for example) are doing it online.
Actually, it's working pretty good here. Internet banking sites are used as gateways for a load of services, including declaring your taxes - this year about 150 000 people declared their taxes on-line.
It's all very simple. Mart Laar's government decided that making the internet more available for Estonians would be one of its priorities. They said, in a very political manner, that they will support any effort that helps this. That's all they did.
Internet is widely used in Estonia, internet banking especially. Cellphones are very common. Costs are similar to the Western Europe, but at the same time people's income is several times less. Which means that people are willing to spend a lot more of their income on telecommunication than in many other countries.
It's a fine mixture of questionable self-esteem and good marketing - without being on-line or having a cellphone, you might feel inferior in Estonia. How much the nation is actually benefitting from this, is unknown.
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The situation is quite the same here in Estonia, the unwilling former Soviet republic. All three GSM operators are required by law to provide equipment that allows the defence police to tap into any phonecall. Until recently this was simply a legal requirement, but at this point all three (if I'm not mistaken) have actually purchased and set up these systems. The legal side of listening to a specific phonecall is a completely separate matter.
It's not Scandinavian, it's Fenno-Ugric.
Income tax is a flat 26% in Estonia, VAT is 18%. All investments to your business are tax free.
It's all very simple. Mart Laar's government decided that making the internet more available for Estonians would be one of its priorities. They said, in a very political manner, that they will support any effort that helps this. That's all they did.
Internet is widely used in Estonia, internet banking especially. Cellphones are very common. Costs are similar to the Western Europe, but at the same time people's income is several times less. Which means that people are willing to spend a lot more of their income on telecommunication than in many other countries. It's a fine mixture of questionable self-esteem and good marketing - without being on-line or having a cellphone, you might feel inferior in Estonia. How much the nation is actually benefitting from this, is unknown.
Estonian does not share its roots with Swedish and Norwegian. It shares its roots with Finnish and Hungarian.