2014-04-17
The population will be informed on the most important euro adoption events via SMS messages
The Bank of Lithuania and the major mobile operators agreed on cooperation in informing the Lithuanian public on the euro adoption in the country. The corporations BITĖ Lietuva, Omnitel and Tele2, understanding the importance of the preparedness of the population for the changeover, will send their customers two short messages (SMS) on the most important euro adoption events.
“We are assessing this socially responsible step by mobile operators which will allow several million mobile subscribers to receive in a timely manner the most important information related to the euro adoption. Direct informing is one of the most effective means to help the population to better prepare to meet the common European currency,” said Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania.
Signing the Cooperation Agreement (from left to right): Chief Financial Officer of Bitė Group, Nikita Sergienko, President of Omnitel, Dan Strömberg, Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, Vitas Vasiliauskas, Chief Commercial Officer of TELE2, Petras Kirdeika. Photo by Dainius Labutis (ELTA).
The first message will be sent after the EU Council’s expected decision, in July, on Lithuania’s adoption of the euro on 1 January 2015. This message will also inform the population on where to look for information if any further questions arise.
At the end of December, another SMS will be sent out, reminding people that as of 1 January 2015, the euro will become the official means of payment in Lithuania. Yet again, the public will be reminded how long the dual circulation period will last, where safe exchange of litas to euro can be performed: at commercial banks, post offices, some credit unions and the Bank of Lithuania.
In Lithuania there are more than 4.5 million subscribers to mobile services; therefore it is expected that the information disseminated via the SMS messages will help most of the Lithuanian population to smoothly prepare for the changeover to the new currency.
Lithuania expects to successfully meet the established requirements for euro adoption, the so-called Maastricht criteria, and on 1 January 2015 to adopt the single currency of the EU.