|
 Before
the war, Estonia was richer than Finland. Now the northern neighbor is
one of the richest countries in the world, and Estonia is struggling
to catch up with the poorest parts of the European Union.
But the income level belies the country’s real level of development.
On social and cultural indicators, Estonia, like a lot of other
post-communist countries, is close to the European average—or even
ahead. Certainly on mobile phone use, and anything to do with the
Internet, Estonia puts the supposedly “advanced” countries of
Europe to shame.
“If a Frenchman loves to sip wine
with his friends and a German enjoys his beer, then an Estonian likes
to sit behind his computer on a dark evening, surfing the Net and at
the same time talking on his mobile phone.”—Estonian
communications executive, Toomas Sõmera, to the Postimees
daily on how he explains the explosion of Internet and mobile phone
use in Estonia to dumbfounded foreign investors.
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