TEO to provide digital terrestrial television services already in the first quarter of this year

On Thursday, 3 January 2008 TEO LT, AB (hereinafter – TEO), an integrated telecommunication, IT and TV services provider, completed the transaction for the acquisition of a 100 per cent stake in UAB Nacionalinė Skaitmeninė Televizija. The Company plans to launch the provision of digital terrestrial television services already in the first quarter of this year.

UAB Nacionalinė Skaitmeninė Televizija, which was spun off from UAB Mikrovisatos TV during reorganisation, has two licences for re-broadcasting of television channels over digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) networks.

The agreement on acquisition of the company’s shares was signed on 29 October of the last year and later on the transaction was approved by the Competition Council and by the Radio and Television Commission of Lithuania.

By acquiring Nacionalinė Skaitmeninė Televizija, TEO seeks to accelerate the development of digital terrestrial TV in Lithuania. It will be ensured by a bigger variety of services and their better quality as compared to analogue TV, which, from 2012, will be fully replaced all over Lithuania with digitally provided services.

The first ones to express interest in the service should be half a million households in the suburbs and more remotely located areas, where it has not been possible to choose from among several multi-channel TV service providers.

In the five biggest cities of Lithuania TEO has already installed the network of DVB-T transmitters that make digital TV channels available to 75-80 per cent residents of Lithuania. Until the end of this year, the Company will continue developing this network until the DVB-T signal becomes available to at least 95 per cent of the territory of Lithuania.

In October 2006, TEO started providing Internet technologies-based (IPTV) digital television GALA services to residential customers.