Latvian Mobile Telephone

LMT (Latvian: Latvijas Mobilais Telefons) is a mobile GSM/UMTS/LTE operator in Latvia.

Logo used until March 2013
LMT
Native name
Latvijas Mobilais Telefons
IndustryGSM/UMTS/LTE operator
FoundedJanuary 2, 1992 (1992-01-02)[1]
Headquarters
Riga
,
Latvia
Area served
Latvia
Owner
Websitelmt.lv
Footnotes / references
[2]

LMT was founded on January 2, 1992.[1] It was the first mobile network operator in the country and established itself as an operator for the NMT system, but in January 1995 it started operating a GSM network alongside the existing NMT network.[3] Based on market research, it requested for its license to be expanded to permit use of the 1800 MHz range which was allowed in the summer of 1999. On December 1, 1999 there were 14 active GSM 900/1800 base stations with the plan to have 11 more operational before the end of the millennium.[4]

History

LMT announced on April 3, 2000 that it was partnering with Hansabank to release the first ever mobile banking solution in the country.[5] It allowed the user to for example look up currency rates, check the account balance, see the transactions done on the account and receive text messages notifying about actions done on the account. The account holder was able to choose how often those notifications should arrive with the options ranging from monthly up to after each action takes place. It was also noted right away that there are plans to provide a method for doing payments via mobile banking as that was not initially possible saying that this marks the start of a new generation of services.

In November 2000 LMT started a prepaid service called OKarte (OCard) along their existing subscription based service.[6] The cooperation with Hansabank was continued by allowing the prepaid accounts to be instantly refilled from any Hansabank ATM.[7] On October 7, 2013 the prepaid service was merged with the LMT branding and renamed to LMT Okarte.[8]

LMT announced in January 2002 that it will stop supporting the NMT network at the end of the year and started rolling out GPRS later that year, providing GPRS everywhere in Latvia by September 2002.[9][10] Following the expansion, LMT announced the support for MMS on March 31, 2003.[11] After acquiring the licence, the initial release of the commercial UMTS network was in December 2004.[12] Soon after that, in June 2005, EDGE was introduced in Riga and Jūrmala by LMT and the HSDPA rollout started in August 2006.[13][14]

In cooperation with TeliaSonera, LMT started selling the iPhone in Latvia on September 26, 2008.[15]

The LTE network was commercially released on May 31, 2011 but was not made available to phone users initially.[16] The first citywide coverage of the network in Latvia was in Liepāja in July 2012 and following further network development LTE was made available to phone users on November 5, 2013 without any additional charges.[17][18] As of April 2014, 50% of Latvians had access to the LTE network with the future goal of providing it in the whole territory of Latvia, including rural areas, by 2016.[19]

In April 2013 LMT started the project ‘LMT for Latvia’ (LMT Latvijai in Latvian)- a comprehensive and nationwide CSR project, in cooperation with local municipalities and locals of different Latvian towns and cities.[20] New children’s playground and modernized library in Preiļi, outdoor fitness equipment in Tukums, purchase of binoculars for bird watching in Sātiņi Nature Reserve, youth festival in Saldus – these are just few of the ideas implemented in 2014 thanks to the initiative ‘LMT for Latvia’. The ultimate goal of the project is to improve the life and environment of Latvian regional communities and support the initiatives of the individuals, companies and various NGOs in order to achieve growth of the city/town and make life better and surroundings – more beautiful.[20] In 2014 88 ideas were submitted in eight Latvian cities and towns, 32 were chosen for the implementation. More than 28 000 people participated in the voting and the initiative was covered in more than 200 press cuttings. The winners of the competition received 500 to 2000 euro funding or co-financing. In total LMT donated 64 thousand euro for the project in 2014. The project has greatly improved the local communities, as well as helped establish excellent cooperation with the local municipalities, that has improved the relations and business results in the specific towns.

As of June 2014 LMT had roaming agreements for voice calling and text messaging services with 446 operators in 204 countries in Europe, Africa, Asia, Oceania and America also including ships and satellite communication networks while mobile internet services were available in 372 operator networks in 171 country.[21]

LMT is now the largest telecommunications service provider, in the beginning of year 2015 serving 1 113 197 clients, which is 30 thousand more than the year before.[22]

Main products

While subscription based telephone services are the most prominent product of LMT, prepaid plans (LMT Karte) are also provided along with a variety of data plans aimed at tablets and computers. As of June 2014, three mobile internet tiers are available for whole households consisting of unlimited data with the top tier not imposing any arbitrary speed restrictions for the transfer.[23]

Events

LMT has been a major sponsor of the LMT Smart Future Conference since 2016. The conference purports to bring “experts across multiple industries and disciplines” to the VEF Kultūras pils in Riga each year.

Speakers have included Culture Minister Dace Melbarde, Journalist Ilze Jaunalksne and Emojipedia founder Jeremy Burge.[24]

Patron of the University of Latvia

The Latvian mobile phone is a silver patron of the University of Latvia Foundation. Has been supporting the University of Latvia since 2007 by donating to exact science projects and providing conferences and forums. The direction of support is research and development of the learning environment.[25]

See also
  • Telia Company (the main shareholder of LMT)
  • Tele2
  • Bite Latvija
  • Telekom Baltija (operating under the brand Triatel)

References
  1. ""Latvijas Mobilais Telefons" sagaida 2000.gadu ar 200 000. abonentu" [Year 2000 arrives with the 200,000th subscriber for Latvian Mobile Telephone] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 7 January 2000. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  2. "LMT share owners" (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. Archived from the original on 1 June 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  3. "SIA "Latvijas Mobilais Telefons"" (in Latvian). University of Latvia. 30 April 2014. Archived from the original on 23 April 2019. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  4. ""Latvijas Mobilais Telefons" uzsācis GSM 900/1800 tīkla darbību" [Latvian Mobile Telephone has started operating the GSM 900/1800 network] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 1 December 1999. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  5. "LMT un Hansabanka piedāvā "Mobilo banku"" [LMT and Hansabank provide "Mobile bank"] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 3 April 2000. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  6. "LMT piedāvā priekšapmaksas sarunu karti" [LMT provides a prepaid talk card] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 2 November 2000. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  7. "Hansabankas bankomātos var papildināt OKartes kontu" [OCard accounts can be refilled in Hansabank ATMs] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 5 July 2001. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  8. "Okartes zīmols tiek apvienots ar LMT" [The Okarte brand is being merged with LMT] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 7 October 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  9. "Latvijas Mobilais Telefons slēgs NMT mobilo sakaru tīklu" [Latvian Mobile Telephone to close the NMT mobile communication network] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 3 January 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  10. "LMT klientiem visā Latvijā pieejami GPRS pakalpojumi" [LMT clients in the whole Latvia have access to GPRS services] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 18 September 2002. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  11. "LMT klienti var izmantot MMS" [LMT clients can use MMS] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 31 March 2003. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  12. "LMT atklāj UMTS tīklu komercrežīmā" [LMT releases the UMTS network in commercial mode] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 13 December 2004. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  13. "Ieviešot EDGE, LMT trīskāršo datu pārraides ātrumu" [By implementing EDGE, LMT triples the data transfer speed] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 9 June 2005. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  14. "LMT 3G tīklā desmitkāršots datu pārraides ātrums" [LMT 3G data transfer speed increased ten times] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 30 August 2006. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  15. "LMT uzsāk iPhone 3G tirdzniecību Latvijā" [LMT starts iPhone 3G sale in Latvia] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 24 September 2008. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  16. "LMT pirmie Latvijā komercrežīmā sāk piedāvāt 4G mobilo internetu" [LMT is first in Latvia to start commercially providing 4G mobile internet] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 31 May 2011. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  17. "Liepāja - pirmā pilsēta Latvijā ar pilnu 4G mobilā tīkla pārklājumu" [Liepāja - the first city in Latvia with full 4G mobile network coverage] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 6 July 2012. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  18. "LMT pirmais Latvijā piedāvā 4G internetu telefonos" [LMT first in Latvia to provide 4G internet in phones] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 5 November 2013. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  19. "LMT 4G internets pieejams jau 50% Latvijas iedzīvotāju" [LMT 4G internet already available to 50% of Latvians] (Press release) (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. 25 April 2014. Retrieved 31 May 2014.
  20. http://www.lmt.lv/lv/preses-relizes?g=2013&pid=519
  21. "Abroad" (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  22. http://www.lmt.lv/lv/preses-relizes?pid=698
  23. "Internet for the home" (in Latvian). Latvian Mobile Telephone. Retrieved 1 June 2014.
  24. "- KapitālsNetworks.lv". www.kapitalsnetworks.lv. Archived from the original on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  25. https://www.fonds.lv/lepojamies/mecenati/sudraba-mecenati/sia-latvijas-mobilais-telefons/
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