Latvia Travel Guide - Communications

Country code: 371. Payphones are operated by phonecards which can be purchased at kiosks, post offices and in some shops.

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone companies. Coverage is good.

There are many Internet cafes in Riga and some in other towns.

Postboxes are yellow. Mail delivery within Europe takes two to seven days, to America and Australia 10 to 14 days. Riga Central Post Office is located at Stacijas laukums (next to the main railway station), opening hours: Mon-Fri 0700-2200, Sat 0800-2200; Sun 1000-2200. 

Post office hours: (General, main) Mon-Fri 0700/0800-1800/1900, Sat 0800-1600.

Public radio and TV are financed by state subsidies and advertising revenue. The media operate freely, with few legal restrictions on their work. There are laws against libel and incitement of racial hatred.

• A wide range of political viewpoints are represented by some 140 newspapers, with a mixture of Latvian- and Russian-language newspapers printed.
• The main daily is Diena.
• Latvian-language papers include the broadsheet Neatkariga Rita Avize (NRA), the business tabloid Dienas Bizness and the evening tabloid Vakara Avize Vakara Zinas.
• Russian-language publications include Telegraf (the main daily), Chas, Vesti Segodnya and Biznes & Baltiya.

• Latvia's TV market is dominated by the commercial LNT, two networks operated by the national public broadcaster, commercial TV3 Latvia and the Baltic variants of the main Russian networks.
• Latvian Television (LTV) is a publicly-owned channel which operates LTV1 and LTV7.
• Latvian Independent Television (LNT) is the main commercial terrestrial channel, with TV3 Latvia and TV5 also.

• The public Latvian Radio operates four national networks, while Radio SWH, Easy FM, and Radio Skonto are commercial  stations.
• Radio NABA is a public/university station.