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Latvia invites formal proposal for future of local telecom companies

Xinhua, August 19, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Latvian government on Tuesday instructed the Latvian Privatization Agency (LPA) to invite Scandinavian telecommunications group TeliaSonera to make a formal proposal regarding the future of the Latvian telecommunications companies Lattelecom and Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), Baltic News Service reported.

The Economics Ministry proposed to the government to arrange for a detailed independent analysis of different options regarding the state-held shares in the two telecommunications companies from the financial angle as well as from the perspectives of competition and consumer rights.

However, the government rejected this proposal. The cabinet decided to seek an opinion from the Competition Council which previously had voiced concerns about the possible merger of Lattelecom and LMT.

Latvian Economics Minister Dana Reizniece-Ozola said the government needed as much information as possible to choose between the status quo and any changes in the management of the two companies.

The economics minister said she believed that the Latvian state should retain a controlling stake in both Lattelecom and LMT. "This is what I think based on the information that I have at the moment," she said.

The Latvian government has been debating the possibility to sell off its stakes in LMT and Lattelecom for quite a long time.

Merging the two telecommunications has been suggested as one of the options, but the Latvian competition watchdog has voiced concerns about the risks to competition the merger of LMT and Lattelecom might cause.

LMT is the oldest mobile operator in Latvia. LMT shareholders are the state-owned Latvian State Radio and Television Center (23 percent), Lattelecom (23 percent), the Latvian Transport Ministry (5 percent) and TeliaSonera (49 percent).

Lattelecom, established in 1992, is a provider of integrated electronic communication and IT services in Latvia. Lattelecom shareholders are the Latvian state (51 percent) and TeliaSonera (49 percent). Endit