Lattelekom and Smidre both go down

Lattelekom announced it will implement a maximum 45 % cut in interconnect tariffs that was previously rejected by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (the regulator set a cieling of LVL 0.008 per minute that amounted to a 80 % cut from the highest rates hitherto). The cut is made possible by a court's suspension of the regulator's cieling. The long term goal of Lattelekom is to cut interconnect rates to the European average, which an EU study says was 0.59 eurocents in 2004.
Meanwhile, as this blogger predicted, the Ministry of Tranport has rejected telecom entrepreneur Peteris Smidre's call for a postponement of the third UMTS/GSM licence auction until interconnect issues are resolved. The Ministry wrote, among other things, that a postponement would only prolong the present situation with high tariffs for both interconnect and for services to consumers and businesses.