Telecommunications in Latvia encompass a broad range of services including the internet, telephones, television, and radio.

Internet and digital progress

Users and skills

In Latvia, the digital engagement and proficiency of the population closely align with European Union (EU) averages. In 2022, internet usage among individuals reached 90%, marginally above the EU average of 89%. When it comes to digital skills, 51% of Latvians aged 16 to 74 have at least basic digital skills, slightly below the EU average of 54%. Additionally, 24% of the population have above basic digital skills, narrowly under the EU's 26%. Latvia has shown progress in digital content creation, with 64% of its population possessing basic skills in this area, nearing the EU average of 66%.

Fixed broadband

As of 2022, Latvia has achieved 92% household coverage with Fixed Very High Capacity Network (VHCN), surpassing the EU average of 73%, and 91% coverage with Fibre to the Premises (FTTP), well above the EU's 56%. The uptake of broadband services at speeds of at least 100 Mbps in Latvia is 62%, slightly above the EU average of 55%. However, the adoption of 1 Gbps broadband is notably low at less than 0.1%, compared to the EU average of 13.8%. In efforts to further improve its fixed broadband infrastructure, Latvia has made strategic investments, including a EUR 4 million investment from the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) aimed at 'last-mile' VHCN development, and an additional EUR 8.7 million from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). These investments are directed towards enhancing high-speed internet access across the country.

  • ~501,000 lines, 97th in the world (2012);

Mobile cellular:

  • ~2.2 million lines, 147th in the world (2022);

Radio and television

Radio stations:

  • Publicly owned broadcaster operates 6 radio networks with dozens of stations throughout the country; dozens of private broadcasters also operate radio stations (2007);
  • AM 1, FM 234 (2016).

Radios: 1.76 million (1997).

The state public radio broadcaster is Latvijas Radio.

Television stations:

  • Several national and regional commercial TV stations are foreign-owned, 2 national TV stations are publicly owned; system supplemented by privately owned regional and local TV stations; cable and satellite multi-channel TV services with domestic and foreign broadcasts available (2007);

The constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and of the press. There are no government restrictions on access to the Internet or reports that the government monitors e-mail or Internet chat rooms. Individuals and groups engage in the peaceful expression of views via the Internet, including by e-mail.

In September 2010 the government's Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB), which enforces campaign laws, removed a satirical film, The Last Bear Slayer, from the on-demand playlist of the partially state-owned cable provider, Lattelecom. The KNAB stated that the film might have constituted election advertising. Reporters Without Borders charged that the prohibition constituted improper censorship, but noted it was ineffective because the film was widely available on the Internet. was enforced to enable blocking unlicensed gambling websites. Since then, the Lotteries and Gambling Supervisory Inspection of Latvia has been maintaining the list of blocked websites.

See also

  • Latvian Internet Exchange
  • Latvia

References

  • Public Utilities Commission
  • Latvian State Department of Communications
  • NIC.lv, .lv domain registrar.
  • CERT.lv, the Information Technology Security Incident Response Institution of the Republic of Latvia.

;Telecommunications operators in Latvia

  • TelTel
  • Bite Latvia (GSM)
  • CSC Telecom
  • Lattelecom
  • Latvia Mobile Telephone (GSM)
  • Optron
  • Tele2 (GSM)
  • TELEFANT
  • Telepele, prefix code 1030 in Lattelecom network.
  • Triatel (CDMA)