ARARAT GHUKASIAN ELECTED CHAIRMAN OF UNION OF ARMENIAN BANKS
Noyan Tapan
Nov 5, 2009
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. At the special general meeting of the
Union of Armenian Banks (UAB) held on November 4, Ararat Ghukasian
was elected Chairman of UAB. He will succeed Emil Soghomonian,
Chairman of the Board of Prometey Bank Ltd., who has been Chairman
of UAB since August 2007.
WORKING VISIT OF DELEGATION HEADED BY RA PRIME MINISTER TO THE U.S. STARTS
Noyan Tapan
Nov 5, 2009
LOS ANGELES, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The working visit of the
delegation headed by RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan to the U.S.
started on November 5. The delegation has arrived in the U.S. in
order to participate in the ArmTech 2009 Congress being held in the
city of San Jose in Silicon Valley.
The Armenian delegation is composed of Head of the RA Government
Staff David Sargsyan, Minister of Economy Nerses Yeritsian, other
high-ranking officials.
According to the press service of the RA government, on the first day
of the visit, T. Sargsyan met with the Lincy Foundation’s President
Jay Rakow and Vice President Harut Sassounian. They discussed issues
of cooperation between Armenia and the Lincy Foundation.
ORANGE ARMENIA STARTS OPERATING IN ARMENIA
Noyan Tapan
Nov 5, 2009
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. France Telecom company (the Orange
brand) started operating in Armenia on November 5. In our country,
France Telecom will be represented by Orange Armenia company. As
President of France Telecom Didier Lombard stated at a press conference
held on the same day, Orange is the third European operator intending
to become a leader in Armenia.
"We consider the opening of a new office in each country as a birth,
and I am excited," D. Lombard said, adding that Armenia had been
chosen because of special relations between France and Armenia: the
Armenian community in France is large, which has played a great role
in Orange’s establishment in Armenia. "Armenia is the 31st country to
be provided Orange services. The company is among the world’s top 10
operators and boasts 189 million customers. We will live a long and
splendid life in this country," D. Lombard declared.
Presenting the advantages of Orange, its Vice President Olaf Swantee
stressed that the company will be notable for its innovations. Orange
has 18 laboratories worldwide, whose new technologies regularly become
accessible to subscribers. "We promise to transform the communication
market of Armenia and to become a favorite company," he stated.
Director General of Orange Armenian Bruno Dutois announced that the
company has already made investments of 90 million USD. It currenly
has 300 employees, but 15 thousand people have submitted applications.
In his words, they will offer services based on innovative solutions,
high speed Internet, and quite flexible and competitive prices. France
Telecom has the largest 3G+ network in Armenia. Starting from this
week, 13 service centers of the company will function.
B. Dutois said at this moment they promise accessible Internet
and mobile phone communication for 83% of Armenia’s territory –
500 villages and cities. He announced that as of November 4, 70,000
subscribers were already registered.
Marketing Director of Orange Aram Mkrtchian said the prepayment
tariffs of mobile communication will be divided into 4 tariff plans,
each having a specific direction depending on the preferences and
age of subscribers. In particular, there will be tariff plans for
certain hours of the day or certain days of the week in order to
provide lower tariffs. Depending on a tariff plan, the per-minute
tariff will be 5-40 drams, the sms tariff – 5-15 drams.
Until December 31, the first minute of the first call made each day
will be free of charge. Orange Armenia will give some surprises:
in particular, new subscribers of the company will receive as a gift
the opportunity to speak 300 minutes free within the network.
By subscribing for "Every Month" tariff plan, subscribers will be able
to purchase phones at quite low prices. The company will offer "Orange
World" service, starting from December – also Internet television
services. From November, Orange Armenia will provide roaming services,
for which no prepayment is required.
589,419 USERS WERE CONNECTED TO GAS CONSUMPTION SYSTEM OF ARMENIA AS OF NOVEMBER 1
Noyan Tapan
Nov 5, 2009
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. 589,419 users were connected to
Armenia’s gas consumption system as of November 1, 2009. The number
of users grew by 15,464 in the first ten months of 2009, including
by 2,411 in October.
The press service of ArmRusgazprom company reported that 212,748
alarm safety devices were installed at apartments of gas users as of
November 1, including 14,277 devices installed in October.
To recap, the deadline for installation of alarm safety devices
was extended for two years. Based on that, ArmRusgazprom plans to
complete the program of safety device installation in January 1,
2012. The program started in December 2008.
2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA ENVISAGES FINANCING OF 125.4 MILLION DRAMS FOR RA OMBUDSMAN STAFF
Noyan Tapan
Nov 5, 2009
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The 2010 draft state budget
of Armenia envisages financing of 125.4 million drams for the RA
Ombudsman Staff – as compared to 136.1 million drams in 2009. 70% of
the indicated sum will go to the wage fund. The RA Ombudsman Office
has 47 employees with the average monthly salary of 119 thousand drams.
Speaking about the financing problems in 2010, RA Ombudsman Armen
Harutyunian said at the November 5 joint sitting of the National
Assembly Standing Committees that more reduction in financing had
been planned previously. However, taking into account the importance
of domestic business trips under conditions of the absence of regional
offices, the government complied with their request and mostly reduced
expenses on foreign business trips (by about 4 million drams).
According to A. Harutyunian, the envisaged financing will be enough
to visit all the marzes (provinces) at least once a year.
He said that in 2010, they will not be able to realize the program of
founding at least 3 regional offices – in Gyumri, Vanadzor, and Goris.
In the opinion of A. Harutyunian, the 2010 budget of the RA Ombudsman
Office will allow performing the main functions. He expressed a hope
that next year they will again manage to get material assistance
from international donors, although the latter do not usually provide
considerable grants to state bodies.
The draft state budget was calculated based on the settlement exchange
rate of 376 drams per dollar.
PRESIDENT OF ARMENIA MEETS WITH FRANCE TELECOM CEO
ArmInfo
2009-11-05 22:03:00
ArmInfo. Today, President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan met with CEO
of France Telecom Didier Lombard, his deputy Olaf Swantee, Director
General of Orange Armenia Bruno Duthoit and Ambassador of France to
Armenia Serge Smessow.
The press service of the President quotes Sargsyan as saying: "I
am glad that within such a short period of time we have managed to
implement the first stage of this program. We are keen to have highly
reputed international brands working in Armenia and I am sure that
Orange’s activities will improve not only our communication sector
but the whole business climate in our country."
For his part, Lombard pointed out that it would be impossible to
start the work in Armenia within such a short period of time without
the Armenian president’s support.
Orange Armenia is a subsidiary of France Telecom in Armenia. In Nov
2008 it was granted cellular service license in Armenia. In 2009
Orange investments in Armenia are to amount to about 80 mln EUR,
in 009-2011 – 150 mln EUR. Besides Orange Armenia, there are two
more operators in the republic – ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline brand, a
subsidiary of VimpelCom OJSC) and K-Telecom CJSC (VivaCell-MTS brand,
a subsidiary of MTS OJSC).
ORANGE ARMENIA’S CELLULAR SERVICE TARIFFS WILL RANGE WITHIN 5-35 AMD
ArmInfo
2009-11-05 19:00:00
ArmInfo. Orange Armenia’s cellular service tariffs will range within
5-35 AMD, Marketing Director of Orange Armenia Aram Lazarian said
during a press-conference today,
The company has introduced four prepaid tariffs: Start, My Friends,
My Time and My Numbers.
Start will cost 35 AMD for all mobile and fixed networks. Outside
the three biggest cities (Yerevan, Gyumri and Vanadzor) the tariff
will be 5 AMD a minute.
My Friends will cost 5 AMD for tariff users, 5 AMD/minute for SMS
inside the Orange network and 5 AMD per 1 Mb for visitors of a number
of social networks.
My Time will cost 5 AMD/minute in evenings and on weekends and 5
AMD/Mb for visitors of a number of information portals.
My Numbers will cost 5 AMD a minute for the three most favorite
numbers and 30 AMD/minute for the rest.
"We also offer Orange Business service with two accounts for one
number: personal and business. This will help to solve of the problem
of corporate bill payments: employers will have to pay only the
business account," Lazarian said.
Orange Armenia also offers Each Month postpaid tariff plan. The
minimum cost of this service is 4,000 AMD a month. The users of this
plan will enjoy 1,000 and more free minutes and opportunity of free
calls inside the Orange network.
There are also two solutions for internet: Internet Now and Flybox.
Internet Now will cost 9,000 AMD and more per month. USB-modem with
12-month subscription will be provided for symbolic 1 AMD.
Flybox service is for a network of up to 40 computers.
This service costs 16,000 AMD a month at lowest.
Vice President of France Telecom Olaf Swantee said that Armenia’s
mobile communication market was quite promising due to low internet
and high cellular penetration rates.
Orange Armenia subscribers will enjoy the opportunity to visit the
wap-portal of Orange World and access to TV from a mobile phone.
In Nov Orange Armenia subscribers will be offered roaming in 130
countries via Orange’s global network and will not have to pay anything
for activation. "We have two more gifts for our first subscribers:
300 free of charge minutes in the Orange network in Armenia and no
charge for the first minute of each first call (both domestic and
international) made each day till Dec 31," Lazarian said.
ARMENIAN MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE SATISFIED WITH GRAPES PROCUREMENT IN ARMENIA
ArmInfo
2009-11-05 15:51:00
ArmInfo. A total of 127.3 thousand tons of grape for 14.3 billion drams
(nearly $37 million) was procured in Armenia in 2009, Minister of
Agriculture Grasim Alaverdyan said in a press conference on Thursday.
The minister said half of the total procurement was the share of
Yerevan Brandy Company and Yerevan Ararat Brandy-Wine-Vodka Factory
(for 130 drams per kg). He said the average procurement price was 116
drams. Some wineries purchased grapes for 70-80 drams per kg for low
sugar content (less than the necessary 18%). The minister said that
nearly 2 billion drams are still to be paid to farmers for the procured
grapes. G. Alaverdyan said some wineries paid 20% in cash and pledged
to pay the remaining 80% till the end of 2009. He said payments will be
made ahead of schedule and farmers will receive their money soon. "I
am satisfied with the grapes procurement for the current year despite
the global financial crisis," he said. In 2009 grapes procurement
fell 7.3% versus 2008 when 137356 tons of grapes were procured.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
10-YEAR ACTIVITY PROGRAMME DEVELOPED IN VIEW OF WATER LEVEL RAISING IN SEVAN LAKE
ArmInfo
2009-11-05 15:50:00
ArmInfo. Activity programme has been developed in view of water
level raising in Sevan lake. The programme should be implemented
during the next 10 years, Minister of Transport and Communication
of Armenia Gourgen Sarkisyan told journalists during the visit of
Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan to Gegharkunik region.
As ArmInfo correspondent reports, the minister said 1,4 bln drams
should be spent to build new roads because of the water level raising
in the lake. Total of 15 km of a roadway should be built, that will
require 4,4 bln drams.
G. Sarksiyan added that the work in this direction in the village of
Lchashen will be completed in 2010. Along with it, he said that a new
road with 2,5 km of length, passing through the village of Lchashen,
will be opened in winter. The work will be continued in 2010. The
state will allocate additional 278 mln drams for the repair work in
this village.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
NEARLY 65,000 NUMBERS HAVE ALREADY BEEN RESERVED IN NETWORK OF NEW MOBILE OPERATOR IN ARMENIA – ORANGE ARMENIA
ArmInfo
2009-11-05 15:48:00
ArmInfo. Nearly 65,000 numbers have already been reserved in the
network of the new mobile operator in Armenia – Orange Armenia. Olaf
Swantee, Vice President of France Telecom, which Orange Armenia belongs
to, said in a press conference devoted to launch of services of Orange
Armenia in Yerevan. Since mid-October preliminary registration of
numbers of the new operator has been available at the website of the
company:
Olaf Swantee says 83% of the population of Armenia in 500
populated areas can use the company’s services. The company has 38
service-centers so far, including 13 in Yerevan. He highlights that
half of the service centers are served not by Orange Armenia, but by
private businessmen on the basis of franchising. The sales network
of the company comprises 1.5 thousand sales points for prepayment
services and 3,000 sales points of scratch cards. President of France
Telecom says the company pledges to provides its clients with all
the possible payment versions, including on-line, via bank transfers
or credit cards, as well as service at the company’s offices. Free
subscriber support number 555 is available 24 hours. Orange Armenia
is the Armenian subsidiary of France Telecom. In November 2008 the
company received a license to provide mobile communication in Armenia
for 15 years.