The row over Lattelecom

The Latvian government currently owns a 51 percent stake in Lattelecom, the former Latvian landline network monopoly, while the Swedish-Finnish company TeliaSonera holds the remaining 49 percent. The two sides have been blocking each other for years. The government accuses TeliaSonera of failing to make promised investments in the Latvian landline sector, while the Swedish-Finnish company is annoyed about the loss of the company's monopoly on the sector, which came earlier than expected. Now there is talk about the Latvian government buying back the shares owned by TeliaSonera. "This would be the only acceptable solution because if the state sells both its stake in Lattelecom and its shares in the mobile phone company LMT to TeliaSonera, the latter's influence on our telecommunications market would become too strong. The current situation is unsatisfactory because the state should not be permanently involved in this sector. This branch is changing quickly and the rapid pace of technological development makes government participation in any telecommunications company a risky business. However, if the state does win back control of Lattelecom, it should sell it to an investor who is really interested in the Latvian telecommunications market – and that investor should not be TeliaSonera."

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