Bite honcho talks about mobile broadband, free call business model

Fred Hrenchuk, the CEO and board chairman of mobile operator Bite Group, talks about mobile broadband (a forthcoming jump to 14.4 Mbps), the effects of the economic downturn and the BiFri free calling business model.

Highlights of a Bite press event

Bite Latvija held a press event to talk about how it was moving toward profitability (lots of data and graphs) and how (copies of new customer's recent mobile bills from brands X and Y, sanitized for personal details) it was moving prices downward in Latvia. Here are some excerpts on video from the event (the video is dual use for my Latvian-language blog, hence the bilingual titles).

Blackberry Bold comes to Latvia

The Bite Group has introduced the Blackberry Bold to Latvia and Lithuania. The Riga presentation was held at a wine bar/wine shop, which explains the background in the video. Somewhat surprising was the candid admission by Bite honcho Fred Hrenchuk that there were only 700 Blackberry service users on the Bite network in Latvia. Perhaps this is because there are now a number of mobile e-mail platforms and services available -- various Nokia phones, the iPhone and other smart phones. The Blackberry has to compete with these, unlike North America, where Crackberry addiction spread like wildfire under different pre-conditions. However, I met one businessman who already had a Bold (from the US side of his business) and would gladly buy another 10 (for his Latvian staff?) if Bite could meet a few specific conditions. So there is potential for growth.

Blackberry comes to Latvia

Bite Latvia, the mobile operator, has started offering a Blackberry package. The madness has arrived in Latvia, with the businessperson's electronic body part selling for around LVL 199 (or less with various plans) and the service available starting at LVL 20 per month.

Fred Hrenchuk, CEO of Bite Latvia, tells more in this video:

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