3G Status In Latvia

Sonera's Latvian mobile company Latvijas Mobilais Telefons SIA has filed an application for an UMTS license in Latvia. The Latvian government will grant a total of three licenses, and they will cost 5.8 million Latvian lats (about EUR 10 million) each. Any license received would be paid by Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT). According to the license terms, the operators that have received a UMTS license must build a UMTS network covering 30% of the country's population by the end of 2005. In practice, this means Riga, the capital of the country.

Latvijas Mobilais Telefons is one of Latvia's two mobile phone operators. It is the market leader with a market share of nearly 60%. At the end of 2001, the company had 348,000 customers. In 2001, the company's revenues amounted to EUR 188 million.

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The Latvian Mobile Telephone SIA submitted to the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Latvia documents required for acquisition of UMTS mobile telecommunications license. LMT President Juris Binde: "With this step LMT confirms once more its leading status in the market and introduction of new technologies. LMT was the first in Latvia, which introduced WAP technology, and as the only operator offers the modern HSCSD and GPRS data transmission services, so the next logical step is offering of the third generation mobile communications services. The shareholders and management of the company consider the offered license provisions as sufficiently reasonable for successful further development. Telecommunications and information technologies are in constant progress, and the third generation mobile communications technologies will definitely develop as well. The time set forth in the license for introduction of third generation mobile services in Latvia is sufficiently long, so the LMT will have an opportunity to base on experience of the other operators and offer to its customers services already tested in the other countries, as well as modern phones for wide usage of new technological possibilities. With submission of application the company has made the first step in order to provide the LMT customers with all the large selection of services of the next generation."