New Stationary Telephone Operators Likely To Appear In Armenia Soon

NEW STATIONARY TELEPHONE OPERATORS LIKELY TO APPEAR IN ARMENIA SOON

ARKA
July 17

Chairman of Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission Robert
Nazaryan says new fixed-line telephone operators quite possible
in Armenia.

"The commission’s move to deprive ArmenTel of its monopolistic right
to operate the stationary communication, as well as its efforts to
adopt new regulations and rulings directing the sphere enables any
company to apply for a license to operate a stationary network,"
Nazaryan told reporters.

He said stationary telephone communication may be operated via both
fixed lines and radio frequencies.

"Some companies have already started building their own fibre optic
networks. In the near future, we hope to have a kind of competition
in the stationary communication system as we now have in mobile
communication," Nazaryan said.

ArmenTel was deprived of its monopoly rights in all the spheres
of telecommunication last year. However, it remains the de-facto
monopolist in Armenia’s stationary telephone communication.

ArmenTel is the daughter company of Russian VimpelCom (Beeline
trademark), which is the owner of the company’s 100% shares. It
provides stationary services to 640,000 people, and the number of
its mobile service users exceeds 450,000.