Communications in Latvia
Encyclopedia
Telephones
Telephones - main lines in use:around 644,000 (2007).
Telephones - mobile cellular:
over 2,217,000 (2007)
Telephone system:
recent efforts focused on bringing competition to the telecommunications sector; the number of fixed lines is decreasing as wireless telephone service expands.
Domestic:
number of telecommunications operators has grown rapidly since the fixed-line market opened to competition in 2003; combined fixed-line and mobile-cellular subscribership is roughly 125 per 100 persons.
International:
the Latvian network is now connected via fiber optic cable to Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, and Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
(2007).
Until 2003 Lattelecom
Lattelecom
Lattelecom is a Latvian internet service provider and telecommunications company.The Lattelecom group provides IT, telecommunication and outsourced business process solutions that are provided by all of the companies of the group...
had a monopoly in the fixed telecommunications market. This led to overwhelming use of cellular phones for private customers, fixed lines being requested mostly by companies. In Latvia exist more than 2 million mobile phones but only 644,000 fixed phone connections.
Since the fixed-line voice communication monopoly ended on January 1, 2003, several companies entered the market for fixed voice communication services: Aeronavigācijas serviss, Baltkom TV, Beta Telecom, Latvenergo Tehniskais Centrs, OPTRON, Rigatta, Telecentrs, Telenets, Telekom Baltija and CSC Telecom. These voice telephony providers provide services for cheaper foreign calls, as well as local calls. The telecom regulator SPRK tries to provide a competitive environment so that new operators can compete with Lattelecom which owns most of the last-mile connections.
Radio
Radio broadcast stations:AM 8, FM 56, shortwave 1 (1998)
Radios:
1.76 million (1997)
Television
Television broadcast stations:44 (plus 31 repeaters) (1995)
Televisions:
1.22 million (1997)
The state public television broadcaster is Latvijas Televīzija
Latvijas Televizija
Latvijas Televīzija is the state-owned public service broadcasting television company in Latvia.The company is funded by grant-in-aid from the Latvian government , and gaining the rest from showing television commercials . Although moving LTV to licence fee funding has long been debated, this has...
.
Internet
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):150+ (2007)
Internet users:
1,070,800 (2007).
Country code (Top-level domain): .lv
- See also : LatviaLatviaLatvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
External links
- Public Utilities Commission
- Latvian State Department of Communications
- Telecommunications and IT blog with all the latest hype on telecoms in Latvia
Telecommunications operators in Latvia: