DMEurope
November 29, 2004

Armenian government, OTE settle ArmenTel battle

DMEUROPE-29 November 2004-Armenian government, OTE settle ArmenTel
battle ©2004 DMeurope.com () & DME Ltd. All
rights reserved.

Greek telco OTE and the Armenian government have settled their
year-long legal quarrel.

In the autumn of 2003, the Armenian government accused OTE of not
living up to its commitments that were part of the sale of mobile
operator ArmenTel to the telco, saying the company had not
sufficiently invested in the operator. The government then threatened
to revoke OTE’s mobile monopoly in Armenia. OTE responded with
international arbitration proceedings.

The settlement, reached this week, issues ArmenTel a new GSM licence
with fewer roll-out requirements, but the government will also issue
a second mobile operation licence in the country, to be offered to a
rival.

(Distributed for DMeurope.com via M2 Communications Ltd ()