FRANCE TELECOM BECOMES THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR IN ARMENIA
ArmInfo
2008-10-07 14:38:00
ArmInfo. Cellular operator and Internet provider Orange SA that is
part of France Telecom was declared the winner of the tender for
provision of mobile communication services in Armenia on 7 October,
Armenian Ministry of Transport and Communication reports. Thus, the
source reports, the company ‘s bid for 51.500 thousand euro proved
the highest. On 6 October the Tender Commission opened the bids of
all the participants that passed the pre-qualification stage. Thus,
Tele2 (Sweden) offered 45.600 thousand euro and the Digicell CEO
Blackrock Communications (Ireland) offered 31.600 thousand euro.
According to the tender, Orange SA is to register a local company
within 10 days starting from October 7. The company will be provided
with license before December 15 after undergoing a series of
procedures. The third operator will be provided with GSM frequency
and an opportunity to provide 3G services including voice and data
transmission.
The following codes will be provided to the third operator +374 (0)
55 and +374 (0) 95. If the operator fails to use the provided codes
by at least 60% by the end of the year, the PSRC has a right to take
back the unused numbers.
To note, the mobile operator and internet provider Orange SA has 90
mln subscribers and provides services in 23 countries. At present
GSM service providers in Armenia are ArmenTel CJSC (100% subsidiary
of Russian VimpelCom OJSC with trademark Beeline) and K-Telecom with
trademark VivaCell, 80% stake of the latter belong to Russian MTS
operator. By the data of the companies, the number of subscribers
was up 45.5% over 2007 to 1,824,344.
Both operators have about 1.8 mln subscribers, while the whole
population of the republic currently makes up 3.2 mln people.