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Internet in the Czech Republic and Internet access are largely provided by the private sector and is available in a variety of forms, using a variety of technologies, at a wide range of speeds and costs. In 2013, 68% of Czechs were connected to the Internet.
Contents
Status
Wi-Fi
Because ADSL was very expensive for an average worker in its early days, an enormous number of wireless ISPs (WISPs) (based on 802.11 Wi-Fi technology) came into existence offering reasonable priced monthly-plans since 2003. At the beginning of 2008, there were over 800 mostly local WISPs that had enormous market share of the Internet access. It is estimated Wi-Fi ISPs have about 350 000 subscribers by 2007. The Czech Republic has the most Wi-Fi subscriber in the whole European Union. There are both commercial and community wireless networks.
Mobile
Mobile internet is quite popular. Plans based on either GPRS, EDGE, UMTS or CDMA2000 are being offered by all four mobile phone operators (T-Mobile, Vodafone, Telefonica O2 and U:fon). The average cost for an unlimited mobile internet plan ranges around 25 Euro/month. Various traffic shaping (monthly data limits after which the speed dramatically decreases) are used under common name "Fair Use Policy".
ADSL
In the Czech Republic, ADSL became commercially available at the beginning of 2003, by then-monopoly operator Český Telecom with basic speeds from 192/64 kbit/s to 1024/256 kbit/s. The start-up of ADSL was very slow due to overpriced plans (~€350 per month for 1024/256 kbit). At the beginning of 2004, local loop unbundling began, and alternative operators started to offer ADSL (and also SDSL). This, and later privatisation of Cesky Telecom, helped to drive down prices. On July 1, 2006, Český Telecom was renamed to Telefónica O2 Czech Republic. As of 2009, ADSL2+ was offered in three variants, mostly without data limits (Fair User Policy - limiting link speed based on amount of transferred data). The speed varied depending on the loop length up to 20 Mbit/s.
The typical VDSL2/ADSL2+ connection offered by Telefónica O2 in the Czech Republic in 2012 is 20/2 Mbit/s with no data limits. For short local loops, VDSL2 40/2 Mbit/s plan is offered by O2 and some other internet providers. Speeds and overbooking vary per each ISP.
Cable
Cable internet is gaining popularity with its higher download speeds up to 300 Mbit/s. The biggest ISP, UPC (which has bought another CATV internet provider Karneval in 2007) is providing its service in big cities and attractive locations (Prague, Brno, Ostrava, Liberec, Usti nad Labem, Olomouc, Šumperk).
Internet censorship and surveillance
There were no government restrictions on access to the Internet or credible reports the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms without judicial oversight. Individuals and groups engage in the free expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.
The law provides for freedom of speech and press, and the government generally respects these rights. An independent press, an effective judiciary, and a functioning democratic political system combine to ensure freedom of speech and of the press. However, the law provides for some exceptions to these freedoms, for example, in cases of "hate speech", Holocaust denial, and denial of Communist-era crimes. The law prohibits arbitrary interference with privacy, family, home, or correspondence, and the government generally respects these prohibitions in practice.
Since 1st January 2017, internet service providers are obligated to prevent from accessing "internet sites" listed on non-permitted internet games list. The list is maintained by Ministry of Finance of the Czech Republic. The motivation is to make obstacle in reaching unregulated and untaxed foreign lotteries by Czech citizens and to protect lottery companies that obeyed to the Czech regulations.
In October 2011, the Czech Pirate Party submitted a petition signed by 11,000 people protesting the effort to restrict foreign online gambling and demanding a law guaranteeing censorship free access to the Internet and browsing.
On 6 May 2010, T-Mobile Czech Republic officially announced that it was starting to block web pages promoting child pornography, child prostitution, child trafficking, pedophilia and illegal sexual contact with children. T-Mobile claimed that its blocking was based on URLs from the Internet Watch Foundation list and on individual direct requests made by customers.
On 13 August 2009, Telefónica O2 Czech Republic, Czech DSL incumbent and mobile operator, started to block access to sites listed by the Internet Watch Foundation. The company said it wanted to replace the list with data provided by Czech Police. The rollout of the blocking system attracted public attention due to serious network service difficulties and many innocent sites mistakenly blocked. The specific blocking implementation is unknown but it is believed that recursive DNS servers provided by the operator to its customers have been modified to return fake answers diverting consequent TCP connections to an HTTP firewall.
Since 2008, mobile operators T-Mobile and Vodafone pass mobile and fixed Internet traffic through Cleanfeed, which uses data provided by the Internet Watch Foundation to identify pages believed to contain indecent photographs of children, and racist materials.