NEW TARIFFS OF INTERNET PHONE COMMUNICATION APPROVED

YEREVAN, APRIL 5, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA Government approved the Internet
phone (IP) tariffs submitted by ArmenTel. NT was informed from the RA
Ministry of Transport and Communication that in accordance with the
changed version of Licence No. 60, the list of the approved tariffs
of this service – ArmenTel’s monopoly includes in particular the
rate of phone communication with the US and the RF per minute, which
will make an amount in drams equivalent to $0.20 (without VAT that
makes up 20%). Thus the tariff for the above mentioned countries will
amount to 110 drams. The new tariff for most European countries will
make $0.3. For many countries, the tariff of connection to mobile
phone numbers will be higher than fixed phone communication. The
tariffs will be calculated in drams based on the dollar’s exchange
rate of the last day of the preceding month to be approved by the
RA Central Bank. The Ministry of Transport and Communication as the
monopoly service regulating body demanded from ArmenTel that the
increase in IP communication tariffs should not be considerable for
the countries with the big Armenian Diaspora. To recap, until now
the tariffs of IP communication service of the companies – providers
of this service made about 70 drams, with the tariffs for the US and
Russia making about 50 drams. According to the information provided
by the ministry, the ArmenTel tariff for IP communication service
includes the per-minute rate for local connection, which has not been
included up to now. Besides, ArmenTel motivates the tariff increase by
the fact that it includes the net development and extension costs. It
is noteworthy, however, that according to the head of the Ministry’s
Communication Department Gevorg Gevorgian, ArmenTel has not yet
presented the business program of its economic development. ArmenTel’s
IP services will be available by advance payment cards with prices
making 2,500 drams, 5,000 drams and 10,000 drams (about 22 USD). As
for other companies operating in the market, their regulations with
ArmwnTel will be regulated on the basis of bilateral agreements.