Teo LT to buy Mikrovisatos

The Lithuanian incumbent telco Teo LT has signed a letter of intent to acquire a 100% stake in the MMDS company Mikrovisatos TV for an unspecified fee. Teo LT, along with AB and the Lithuanian Radio and TV Centre, was awarded a DTT licence by the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) in 2005. At the same time, Mikrovisatos and Tele-3 obtained programme rebroadcast licences for DTT services. Teo LT has since begun DTT transmissions in Vilnius (July 2006) and launched an IPTV service named Gala TV (September 2006). It is felt that Mikrovisatos TV, which was formed in 1990 and currently claims 8.2% of the Lithuanian subscription TV market, will be the ideal partner for Teo LT in the development of its DTT operation. If all goes according to plan, this should cover 95% of the country by 2009. CD