Bite Latvija has signed a cooperation agreement with Vodafone. Details were not given in an official announcement.
In all likelihood, it will be similar to the arrangement that Bite GSM has in Lithuania, were Bite users can roam in Europe and internationally on the simplified "Vodafone World" tariff scheme. When Bite came into Latvia, the relationship with Vodafone was presented as one of the advantages it would offer to frequent and business travelers.
Just how much of an "edge" the lower Vodafone rates will offer in terms of competition is under some doubt in the medium term, since the European Union is putting huge pressure on companies to lower their roaming rates. So at the end of a hypothetical "week" (avoiding "at the end of the day") the difference between roaming on Vodafone and anyone else may be marginal. The attraction may be in how billing is presented (I see all my Vodafone roaming calls in, say, Germany, in detail).
MTS GSM, ho hum...
In other news, Master Telecom, previewed on this blog some months ago, has finally announced its MTS GSM service, not to be confused with MTS, the unrelated Russian operator. If you ask my opinion, Master Telecom's "problem" is that they are launching with a very unspectacular and hazy brand. Compare to Toxic, Amigo, Hallo! and Ura, the other (though pre-paid) services aiming clearly at a youth/teen/older child and low income, no frills markets. These are the segments where people still do not have mobile services, so you can get new customers. MTS GSM is not a brand you want to dance to...
Having said that, I should note that the company expects to get around 2 % of the Latvian market, maybe 20 000 users. Enough? We shall see...
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