WEB’S PRISONERS INCREASE, POSSIBILITIES DO NOT

Lragir.am
30 Aug 06

There are about 100 thousand users of the web in Armenia. 30 percent
are companies, 70 percent are individuals. The director of Arminco
Andranik Alexanyan told these facts to the news agency ARKA. He
said the number of the Internet users in Armenia goes up because
the information technologies are becoming an indivisible part of
everyday life, as well as a means of business. At the same time,
Andranik Alexanyan said the potential of the sphere is not used at
full. He gave the example of the regions where a lot of gifted people
are found but where the Internet is not available. The director of
Arminco appreciated the healthy competition on this market. He said the
Internet providers learn a lot from one another. "Our market is small,
and competition should be tolerant," said Andranik Alexanyan. At the
same time, he stated that the Internet infrastructures in Armenia
are in an extremely bad state.

"The tariffs are extremely high, the highest in the world, whereas the
quality is bad," said Andranik Alexanyan. He says Armentel is to blame,
for it does not give due attention to the creation of quality Internet
infrastructures. "Armentel abuses the monopoly and does not give due
attention to the development of the Internet n Armenia, which has a
great future both as a business and as an infrastructure. For Armentel,
however, this direction is not attractive because it is mostly
interested in cellular communication," said Andranik Alexanyan. He
said the government should be consistent and require due fulfillment
of obligations assumed by contract. Andranik Alexanyan said only in
2006 the only fiber optic cable of Armenia was damaged 20 times and
the country did not have Internet.