ARMENTEL FINED IN AMOUNT OF 1% OF ITS REVENUES RECEIVED IN 2005 FROM
MOBILE PHONE COMMUNICATION SERVICES

YEREVAN, MARCH 10, NOYAN TAPAN. ArmenTel company, which has monopoly
on fixed line phone communication, has set such conditions, as a
result of which K-Telecom – its competitor in the mobile phone
communication sector – has found itseld in unequal conditions. This
was the conclusion of the RA State Commission on Protection of
Economic Competition, which on March 10 examined the complaint of
K-Telecom (VivaCell) company against ArmenTel company.

It is noted in the commission’s conclusion that ArmenTel offered a
discount, including for calls made to fixed-line phones, for a certain
group of its mobile phone contract system’s subscribers. K-Telecom,
for whose subscribers the commutation payment is higher, has no
opportunity to offer such discounts to its subscribers. As a result,
according to the commission, some discriminatory conditiones were
created between ArmenTel and K-Telecom companies.

Qualifying ArmenTel’s actions as abuse of its dominating position, the
commission made a decision to fine ArmenTel in the amount of 1% of the
revenues that the company received for providing mobile phone
communication services in 2005. The commission obliged ArmenTel to
ensure such conditions, under which its rival would be able to use
similar discounts.

In response to a question asked by NT correspondent, the commission
chairman Ashot Shahnazarian said that the commission does not know the
amount of ArmenTel’s reveues against mobile phone communication
services in 2005, and it will take into account the information to be
provided by the company itself.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress