With the acquisition of Estonia’s “Mail.ee” by Latvia’s national e-service “Inbox.lv”, a Baltic-wide provider of email and other e-services has been created, said Andris Griķis, Chairman of the Board of SIA “Inbokss”.
Until now, “Inbox.lv” had operated in Latvia, as well as in Lithuania under the “Inbox.lt” brand. After the deal, which was concluded at the end of this year, the total number of active users of the email service across the Baltics will exceed 1.7 million.
“This has been one of the long-term goals of SIA “Inbokss” – to develop a broad user base in Latvia and to expand on a Baltic scale. As the leader of the Latvian market, we had long been exploring opportunities in Estonia in order to enter it as a leader in our segment as well,” said Griķis. The head of the company added that in the future the company plans to strengthen its position in the Lithuanian market more firmly by expanding the range of services offered.
The “Mail.ee” service in Estonia was created and until now maintained by “Tele2 Eesti AS”, which sold the email service in order to focus on the company’s core services – telecommunications, the company’s announcement said. Currently “Mail.ee” has more than 400,000 user accounts.
“This deal will benefit the users, “Tele2” and “Inbox.lv”, which will have a strong foundation for starting operations in the Estonian market,” said Argo Virkenbaus, head of “Tele2” Estonia.
The transaction amount, which runs to six figures, is confidential under the agreement and is not disclosed.
According to Griķis, “Mail.ee” users have already benefited. For example, the mailbox capacity has been increased 1000 times compared to before, namely to 20 GB, files of up to 50 MB can now be sent as attachments, and the interface and other functions have been simplified. Moreover, as early as the beginning of February, “Mail.ee” users, like “Inbox” users in Lithuania and Latvia, will have access to a mobile application for viewing emails.
“It is the policy of SIA “Inbokss” to offer every user an equally high-quality service, and free of charge. This is made possible by our business model, which we will continue in Estonia as well, namely placing advertising on the portal,” explained Griķis.
The Chairman of the Board also pointed out that this merger will make it possible to create a single advertising platform in all three Baltic states. According to Griķis, the entry of SIA “Inbokss” into the Estonian market is also beneficial for advertisers, as there are currently few media that can provide advertising on their platform in all three Baltic states at the same time.
The turnover of SIA “Inbokss” in 2013 was 2.706 million euros.
“Mail.ee” has been on the Estonian market for more than 13 years and is one of the largest email services in Estonia, with a total of 420 thousand users.
For more than ten years, “Inbox.lv” has been Latvia’s largest multifunctional portal, offering its users a wide range of services – from email and file sharing services to entertainment – games, the ability to upload and share their photos.
According to the TNS Latvia Digital study, in spring 2014 “Inbox.lv” was used at least once a week by 853,000 permanent residents of Latvia aged over 6, and for the third year in a row “Inbox.lv” is Latvia’s most loved domestic brand.
