Riga, March 24 (LETA) - Mobile operators hope for the involvement of the state and local governments to eliminate the "white spots" in the coverage in Latgale, a meeting of the Latgale sub-committee of the Saeima human rights and public affairs committee heard on Tuesday.

Kaspars Tolstiks, a representative of Bite Latvija operator, stressed that mobile operators are competitors working according to market principles. He said that there is very fierce competition among operators, so each of them wants to offer the best services to its customers.

"The state's priority so far has been the development of the fixed network," Tolstiks said, adding that there has been "zero state support" for the development of the 5G network.

He therefore called for the involvement of both the state and local authorities. "There are many complex things that are not in the power of operators alone," said the Bite Latvija representative.

He called on municipalities to gather and also indicate in their planning documents the most problematic places where operators can locate their towers. He said that operators would also assess data on water towers on which infrastructure elements could be placed.

Alvis Buraks, representative of Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), also stressed the need for state engagement. He said that the construction of one tower costs the company between EUR 100,000 and EUR 150,000, so it is necessary to assess whether such an investment will pay off.

It was also pointed out that there are often "white spots" in mobile network coverage in border areas, for example in marshy areas where it is not economically viable to build towers.

At the same time, Martins Trons, a board member of the Farmers' Parliament, said that the number of new towers built could be an indicator of economic development. He also called on the state to get involved in the situation by subsidizing the installation of base stations or transmitters.

Trons also stated that there are farmers in Latgale who install additional receivers in their vehicles to ensure stable mobile communications when travelling by car.

Agnese Zarina, Director of the Communications Department of the Ministry of Transport, informed the meeting that a stakeholders' meeting on the development of electronic communications infrastructure and strengthening digital connectivity in the regions is expected on April 8. Among other things, the situation of mobile data coverage in forest and rural areas of Latvia will be discussed.