ARMENIA WILL HAVE SECOND OPERATOR OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION: DAVID HARUTYUNYAN
YEREVAN, JULY 10. ARMINFO. Armenia will have a second operator of
mobile communication, RA Minister of Justice David Harutyunyan said,
responding to “hot line” questions in the “Golos Armenii” newspaper.
According to him, no doubt has ever existed about a new operator
entering Armenia’s telecommunication market, nor will it be challenged
during the RA Government’s negotiations with the OTE company. “As to
whether I am satisfied with the current state of affairs, I am not,”
the Minister said. Without commenting on the arbitration proceedings
in London, Harutyunyan pointed out that “they are going on and can be
dismissed only if the Government’s negotiations with `ArmenTel”
produce positive results.” Speaking of the interests of the Armenian
Government and people, Minister Harutyunyan stated: “The Government is
acting in the consumers’ interests and is sure that the legal
litigation at the Court of Arbitration is not the most productive
method: we are always ready for negotiations,” he said.
The RA Government has suspended the enforcement of its resolution on
amendments to License #60 of September 28, 2004, which include an
amendment depriving “ArmenTel” of its monopoly of mobile communication
and Internet access. This step was considered necessary for
stimulating the negotiations. The disagreements between the RA
Government and the “ArmenTel” company are not only in the mobile
communication sphere, but also the installation of telephone
communication in rural areas, confidentiality of negotiations,
Internet, etc..