Agence France Presse — English
July 2, 2005 Saturday 1:54 AM GMT

Second mobile operator launched in Armenia

YEREVAN

Armenia’s second mobile communications operator began working in the
south Caucasian state Friday, under the Vivacell trademark.

Vivacell is owned by a Lebanon-based holding, whose major
shareholder, Pierre Fatouche, also owns Karabakh-Telecom, a mobile
operator in Azerbaijan’s breakaway enclave of Nagorno Karabakh — a
largely Armenian-populated republic which won independence in
1993-1994.

According to the company’s director Ralf Erekyan, Vivacell — which
invested over 75 million dollars to set up a network capable of
servicing 300,000 clients — would first cover Yerevan and certain
other regions and complete its coverage over the entire country by
the end of the year.

Armenia held a tender for the second mobile operator in November,
after Yerevan stripped the mobile monopoly from ArmeniTel, 90 percent
owned by Greece’s OTE.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress