Today, the country we are to explore is Slovenia, a country in Central Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean, with the capital in Ljubljana. Slovenia borders Italy on the west, the Adriatic Sea on the southwest, Croatia on the south and east, Hungary on the northeast, and Austria on the north. Slovenia is a member of the EU, the Eurozone, the Schengen area, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the Council of Europe, NATO, UNESCO, WTO, and UN. Meanwhile, having high-income developed economy, the country represents the richest Slavic nation-state per capita.
Internet and related technologies have been highly developed similar to those in Western Europe, despite the lack of large scale competition. Slovenian operators deliver the variety of Internet services, including ADSL, ITU G.992.5, VDSL, SHDSL, VDSL2 and FTTH.
The incumbent Internet provider is Telekom Slovenije and its subsidiaries that dominate the fixed-line, mobile, ISP and ADSL markets although, as competition is still slowly entering the market. Progress has been made in unbundling and the regulator has made moves to make ADSL more accessible, resulting in stronger uptake growth.
The incumbent Telekom Slovenije (delivering Internet connection under the trademark SiOL since 1996) still remains state-owned although there have been renewed attempts at privatization. Telekom Slovenije markets itself as the first Communications Experience Provider. The operator offers first-class quality, reliability and security.
In 1999 SiOL became an independent company whose 100% owner is Telekom Slovenia. SiOL offers high quality solutions for the Internet with its mission to connect people through the Internet and by doing so bridge the gaps that some time ago seemed insurmountable.
The other main Internet services operator is ARNES stands for Academic and Research Network of Slovenia. It sees its mission in development, operation and management of the communication and information network for education and research, and was established as an independent public institution in 1992.
Other major providers in Slovenia, according to www.ostamyy.com, are:
• AMIS – is a Slovenian ISP that has around 40.000 customers and is situated in Maribor and Ljubljana.
• UPC Slovenia (also referred to as UPC Telemach) – is a leading broadband cable operator in Slovenia and second largest Over 35% of video cable households in Slovenia receive video cable service from UPC Telemach. Through its cable network, UPC Telemach provides service in all major Slovenian cities including the capital city of Ljubljana and the largest towns and their surrounding areas.
The Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Slovenia is .si, administered by the ARNES, the Academic and Research Network of Slovenia. ARNES, that also represents one of the largest national ISPs.
One year registration under .si domain is €30. Domain names can be renewed only through registrars. Domain names can be renewed for 1 to 5 years.
Internet in Slovenia has increasingly become popular with the development of Internet technologies and Internet related services deployment. Thus, by the end of 2009 broadband penetration level has surged to almost 65%, with 1.3mn Slovenians connected. That may be compared to 2000 when only 15% people in the country were connected to the Web. Actually, this decade reflected considerable growth in Internet penetration that made up over 333%, as says www.internetworldstats.com. Slovenia ranks above the EU average in terms of households with broadband Internet access with 34% of households having broadband, beating the EU average by 2%.
Notably, Slovenia is noted as one of the leading European countries by the percentage of users who browse the web using Mozilla Firefox.
Turning to the statistics data, about half of Slovenians use the Internet at least once a week, which is on par with the average in the EU, as found a European survey.
The percentage of regular Internet users in Slovenia is highest among the 16 to 24 year-olds, as 81% of them said they went online at least once a week. The percentage is above the EU average of 73%.
Besides, the Eurostat ranks Slovenia slightly above the European average of households and companies having an Internet connection. Thus 54% of Slovenian households have an Internet connection, whereas the EU average is 52%.
As for the Internet usage in business sphere, 96% of Slovenian companies are connected to the Internet, that may be compared to 94% of the EU average.
As for electronic business field, Slovenia has managed to develop a dynamic e-commerce sector that although still needs to be rolled out wider.
Thus, in 2006 online purchasing generated 9% of the country’s total business sales, the tenth highest in Europe. This is coupled with above-average eGovernment services: 75% of public services for businesses are available online, that is 10% above the EU norm.
On the legislation side, a number of acts related to e-commerce have been created. The initial version of the Electronic Commerce and Electronic Signature Act (ZEPEP) was adopted by the Slovenian Parliament on 13 June 2000 and came into force on 22 August 2000. It provides the legal basis for using eSignatures and developing eServices in Slovenia.
In 2004 the ZEPEP was upgraded and defined more precisely the responsibilities of providers of Information Society services and set the conditions for the realisation of the electronic identity card project. Being a horizontal bill regulating e-commerce in a broader sense, this Act also applies to administrative, judicial and other similar procedures unless otherwise provided by a different law, such as Electronic Commerce Market Act adopted in 2006.
Evidently, Slovenia could profit from developing a profitable outsourcing IT sector, that of course driven by the successful development of Internet and related services.
