The privatisation of the incumbent Latvian telco Lattelecom is looking increasingly in the balance, according to local reports. Last week saw the company’s CEO Nils Melngailis, one of the main supporters of the proposed sell-off, removed from his post, though he still remains the company’s CEO. TeliaSonera currently holds 49% stakes in both Lattelecom and the country’s leading mobile operator LMT, and has expressed a desire to fully own both companies. Although Melngailis proposed a management/employee buy-out for Lattelecom and LNT earlier this year with the help of the Blackstone Group, it seems that political opposition to any sale is now growing. Lattelecom currently operates one of the most technology advanced IPTV platforms in CEE, employing MPEG-4 compression to offer subscribers a range of services including VOD.
