OLD DATA ON ARMENIA USED IN GLOBAL INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REPORT 2005

Noyan Tapan
Apr 06 2006

YEREVAN, APRIL 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The Armenia-related data in the Global
Information Technology Report 2005 of the Global Economic Forum does
not reflect the current situation in the information and communication
sectors of Armenia, since the outdated information has been used. RA
Deputy Minister of Trade and Economic Development Tigran Davtian
stated this at the April 6 press conference. According to the report,
Armenia ranks 79th among 155 countries by its summary index. T. Davtian
said that particularly the index of the information and communication
technologies component affected the formation of such a low rating
of Armenia. For example, Armenia was in 103rd place by the component
of mobile phone use by individuals, but this conclusion was made
based on the 2003 data. Armenia took the last – 115th place by the
component of mobile phone use in business sector – based on the 2004
data. This information does not reflect the increase in the indices
of mobile phone use after the entry of the second operator in the
Armenian mobile phone communication market.

Besides, Armenia took 110th place by the Internet services availability
component (2004 data was used), 104th place by the new phone lines
availability component (2003 data). T. Davtian said that the low
indices of these two components are conditioned by ArmenTel’s monopoly
in the Internet access service and phone communication provision
market. It is for the first time that Armenia was included in the
Global Information Technology Report, which, in T. Davtian’s opinion,
is a positive phenomenon.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress