Foto: BB.LV / руки и мобильный телефон
National roaming will be introduced in Latvia — the ability to use another mobile operator's network if one's own network is unavailable for a long time during a crisis. The corresponding amendments were supported by the Saeima on October 23 in the final reading. Operators must provide this new capability by July 1, 2027, reports [TV3 News](https://tv3.lv/zinas/latvija/arpus-zonas-piespiedu-karta-pierobeza-un-mazapdzivotas-vietas-trukst-uzticamu-sakaru/). However, national roaming is intended for crisis situations and will not solve the problem of insufficient mobile coverage in everyday life. This issue is particularly acute in the border and sparsely populated areas of Latgale. In some settlements, mobile connectivity is so unstable that residents cannot always make a regular call. Schools also face problems as they require constant internet access. As the executive director of the Augšdaugava municipality, Peteris Dzalbe, explained, several educational institutions have virtually no mobile coverage. > "Zemgale Secondary School, Randene Primary School, Laucesa Primary School — there is no coverage at all there. The municipality is forced to use Starlink, possibly overpaying at times, but we must ensure the educational process so that schools have constant internet," Dzalbe explained. Poor connectivity also complicates the work of the municipality itself. Outside the parish centers, the signal often weakens or disappears completely. ### Tourists struggle to call, entrepreneurs to work Insufficient coverage is an additional problem for the tourism sector in Latgale. Visitors expect the usual quality of connection, but in some places, they cannot use mobile internet or contact hotel and guesthouse owners. At the Lielborn estate, they also had to switch to Starlink satellite internet. According to owner Nora Poisha-Danilova, she was satisfied with the LMT connection before, but after switching to 5G, the quality of the connection noticeably worsened. > "We are becoming so few in this region. We definitely need to address this issue because people still come here and expect the quality of connection to be the same as where they live permanently. And, of course, if it’s not, all the negativity has to be heard by the tourism service providers," the entrepreneur said. The head of the Ludza Tourist Center, Liga Kondrate, admits that coverage in the region has improved in recent years. However, connectivity issues continue to hinder both local residents and businesses. According to her, entrepreneurs find it difficult to maintain contact with clients, work with websites and booking platforms, participate in online training, and organize remote work. > "For a tourist, this means they cannot reach the owner. This means they understand that the service is of poor quality or unavailable," Kondrate explained. ### Connection disappears even on main roads The problem affects not only small villages near the border. Sections without stable mobile coverage can also be found on state and regional roads. > "I can say with complete confidence that when traveling from any major city to another major city, for example from Rēzekne to Daugavpils, from Ludza to Rēzekne or Balvi or to Krāslava, there will always be sections of the road where the connection is interrupted or completely absent," Kondrate said. Thus, interruptions are faced not only by residents of remote settlements but also by motorists, travelers, and people who need to stay connected on the road. ### More than 100 base stations needed to improve coverage Latvijas mobilais telefons (LMT) explains that the development of the mobile network in border areas is associated with serious technical and financial difficulties. Forests and terrain features worsen signal propagation. The construction of new base stations is complicated by marshy areas and the high cost of connecting electricity. Additionally, there are restrictions on frequency usage. The main economic problem is the small number of potential users. In sparsely populated areas, the costs of building infrastructure often do not pay off. According to LMT, to ensure quality and stable connectivity in border areas, more than 100 additional base stations need to be installed. > "This is a very, very large amount of money. Accordingly, this process must occur in such a way that in places where the territories are less populated, where it is difficult to place these base stations, but connectivity is still necessary, various organizations combine efforts and jointly build this network," said LMT's director of private customer service Ilze Saulite. The company believes that the situation could be improved by using state infrastructure for placing mobile operators' equipment. LMT is also exploring opportunities for collaboration with satellite service providers. ### The state offers discounts, but operators are not in a hurry Some infrastructure for developing connectivity already exists. The Latvian State Radio and Television Centre (LSRTC) offers operators the opportunity to rent its fiber-optic network, including on preferential terms. Currently, 70 sparsely populated areas have been identified where operators can receive a 30% discount on infrastructure rental. As explained by the head of corporate communications at LSRTC, Vineta Sprugaine, this applies to places where operators have not rented the network and provided services to the population for 36 months, and the population density is less than 20 people per kilometer of the rented network. > "Thus, with the help of this discount, the state is also stimulating the interest of operators," Sprugaine noted. There is now a proposal to expand the number of areas eligible for support from 70 to 130, as well as to extend the preferential terms to the entire border area. However, even the existing discounts have not yet led to a noticeable increase in operators' interest in Latgale. This region has the fewest companies using the state fiber-optic network compared to the rest of Latvia. The reason is that renting trunk infrastructure is only part of the costs. For the internet to reach residents and businesses directly, operators need to invest additional funds in connecting end users. Thus, national roaming will increase the resilience of mobile connectivity during crises, but the everyday availability of internet and telephone services in Latgale still depends on further infrastructure development.
