Laikraksts The Baltic Times 1-Dec-2017 15.lpp. ir pārpublicējis daļu no LETA ziņas angliski, tajā ir pieminēts arī Gatis Kokins:
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Although the Cabinet of Ministers at the beginning of November decided not to merge telecommunications companies Lattelecom and Latvijas Mobilais Telefons (LMT), the government should return to discussions about the two companies' future as soon as possible, experts agreed during a discussion organized on November 24 by LETA, a news agency.
Luminor Group supervisory board chairman Nils Melngailis believes that putting the problem on the back burner has been damaging to the telecommunications industry. "I also believe that the state should not control telecommunications companies. It's a myth that this is necessary in order to guarantee security. Everywhere else in the world, that is done through regulations and rules," said Melngailis. The longer it takes for the government to sell a company, the less the company will cost, he added.
The fact that Lattelecom and LMT operate in a limited market and have two different owners with different interests means that they will be unable to achieve their potential. "Lattelecom and LMT will continue to work as before, that's not a tragedy. But they will not be able to use new opportunities that they would have with a different shareholding structure. If a company is not developing and not using opportunities it has, the best managers and employees may start to leave one day,” said Melngailis.
Mobile and landline providers have been merged in Estonia and Lithuania, and in that respect they are ahead of Latvia.
"The merger has to happen, the sooner the better. Unfortunately, political interests prevail," said Melngailis.
Lattelecom supervisory board chairman Gatis Kokins stressed that, while the government was nor harming the development of Lattelecom, delays with strategic decisions were not good for the company. "We are perfectly happy with having the state as a shareholder, except that from time to time shareholders have to make strategic decisions. In that respect, the state of Latvia, as a shareholder in the company, is extraordinarily bad." The other shareholder in Lattelecom, Telia Company has recently informed Kokins that maintaining the status quo would be completely unacceptable. Furthermore, politicians' rhetoric has mislead the public into believing that merging Lattelecom with LMT would impact national defense, increase prices for consumers, and suchlike, said Kokins.
Foreign investment expert Girts Greiskalns said that, although the proposal to merge Lattelecom and LMT has been turned down, future goals for the two companies have not been decided either. In addition, since 1996 LMT and Lattelecom have been on a list of companies that are to be privatized, and the government has not said that both companies have been removed from that list.
Greiskalns believes though that the situation at LMT and Lattelecom will not change much for the next two or three years. "I'd rather consider the government's decision as an interim decision, by which the state has, to some extent, defined its interests or objectives.
Now the management at both companies will have to show whether they are planning to work toward these objectives, and how," believes Greiskalns.
The experts believe that the government could return to the question of merging LMT and Lattelecom in one year's time.
As reported, the government on November 7 decided not to merge LMT and Lattelecom.
Scandinavia’s Telia Company has warned the Latvian government that it could sell its shares in LMT and Lattelecom if the two companies are not merged, according to Telia Senior Vice President Robert Andersson's letter to the government.
Telia Group companies Sonera Holding and Telia Company own 49 per cent of LMT shares altogether, while Latvian Radio and Television Center and Latvian Privatization Agency - 28 per cent.
Lattelecom, which belongs to Telia and the state of Latvia, owns 23 per cent of LMT shares.
Telia Group company Tilts Communications owns 51 per cent of Lattelecom shares, and Latvian Privatization Agency the other 49 per cent.