" RIGA B.J. Upton Womens Jersey , Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Latvia is mulling over arecommendation to merge its two leading telecommunicationscompanies, Lattelecom landline operator and Latvijas MobilaisTelefons (LMT) mobile operator, and to list the newly-createdcompany on a stock exchange.
KPMG Baltics (KPMG) audit firm presented its recommendationsregarding the two companies at a news conference in Riga onThursday.
The authors of the KPMG report note that as a result oftechnological development, operators' revenue from conventionaltelecommunications services like voice telephony has been droppinglately and that in Latvia this process has been even faster thanelsewhere in Europe.
""Average revenue per user in the mobile services industry hasdeclined both across Europe and in Latvia. The process has beencaused by product bundling and other factors, such as cuttingroaming fees,"" said KPMG consultation services director EvijaMiezite.
Furthermore, Latvia is currently the only European country thatstill has not seen a consolidation of telecommunicationsoperators.
Upon analyzing eight possible scenarios for the twotelecommunications operators' future, KPMG advisers recommendedmerging Lattelecom and LMT as the best solution.
The report also recommends change on the ownership structure,said Vladimirs Loginovs, the head of the Latvian PrivatizationAgency, at the news conference.
""It has been proposed to create an integrated flagshiptelecommunications enterprise that could potentially become thelargest telecommunications operator in the Baltics with a balancedshareholder structure. An IPO might be organized after the merger,""Loginovs said.
The Latvian government and the telecoms' other shareholder,Scandinavian company TeliaSonera, have been advised to reduce theirholdings in the integrated company to 35 percent each and to listthe remaining 30 percent of shares to attract private shareholdersand retirement funds.
KPMG believes that the merger would boost the companies'competitiveness and save money. The economic effect might reach upto 100 million euros (117 million U.S. dollars) in a few years'time, the consultant said.
On Tuesday, the government ordered the Privatization Agency towork out a strategy for further actions with the government-ownedLattelecom and LMT shares by Oct. 5 2017. Enditem
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TOKYO, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Japanese police on Thursday arrested two South Korean men on suspicion of illegally importing 1,200 kilograms of ""matsutake"" mushrooms from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
Police sources here said that six residences were raided Thursday, including the home of Ho Jong Man, the head of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon as its known locally.
The association, registered as an NGO and headquartered in Tokyo's Chiyoda ward, is one of two organizations supporting long- term residents of Korean descent living in Japan and has close ties to the DPRK, acting as a de facto embassy of sorts, in lieu of no formal diplomatics ties existing between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
While the chairman himself was not detained, police arrested Lee Tong Chol, 61, who runs the Toho wholesale trading house, and Yoshihiko Kin, 42, an employee of the company.
According to police statements, the arrests were made following suspicion by the Kyoto police that the pair illegally imported around 1,200 kilograms of matsutake mushrooms, with a street value of around 3 million yen(25,214 U.S.dollars), by air from the DPRK via China, to Japan's Kansai airport in September 2010.
The produce is believed to have been sold in Japan but falsely labeled as being grown in China, according to police statements.
The arrests come as importing mushrooms violates a trade embargo Japan imposed on the DPRK in 2006, following the former's nuclear tests, with the case compounded by the fact the pair falsely stated the mushrooms originated from China.
Some political watchers said Thursday that the arrests and, in particular, the police's focus on Ho's private residence, could have a bearing on bilateral talks between Tokyo and Pyongyang on the issue of the latter's abductions of Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 80s.
Ho, for his part, told a news conference earlier Thursday that he had no knowledge or ties to the trading company, despite the local police's beliefs, and following the raid, the police did not confiscate anything from his premises. He rebuked the raid as being ""inhumane"" and ""groundless"" and said that it could further strain ties between Tokyo and Pyongyang.
He added that any deterioration in ties between Japan and the DPRK during a time the latter is probing the abduction cases, will be Japan's responsibility.
Similarly, the association's vice chairman, Nam Sung U, whose home was also raided today, told a press conference the raid was "" an unprecedented illegal search.""
The police as part of the investigation, have already searched more than 10 locations, including those believed to be connected to the trading house and the association. Ho's son's premises were searched last May, according to reports.
But Japan defended the raid Thursday, with its top government spokesperson Yoshihide Suga claiming the searches were both ""legal "" and ""appropriate.""
Suga said that despite the raids, the government expected the DPRK to promptly conduct its investigation into the abduction issue and report on its findings openly and honestly. He said the raids should have no bearing on the DPRK's abduction probe.
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