Armenpress
COMMISSION DECLINES ARMENTEL’S REQUEST
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 24, ARMENPRESS: Armenia’s Public
Services Regulatory Commission has declined today a
request by ArmenTel telephone company seeking to raise
tariffs for its exclusive and non-exclusive services.
The commission said the current prices will remain in
force until March, 2007 as ‘transitional prices."
On September 1 ArmenTel asked the Commission to
allow it to raise the monthly payment for one
fixed-line telephone from current 1,100 drams to
3,3000. It also asked for a permission to cut the
360-minute limit of free telephone conversations from
digitized telephones to 280 minute and raise the price
of conversations above that limit from 4 drams per one
minute to six drams.
It also suggested that 9 drams be charged for every
minute of conversations above 1000 minute. ArmenTel
also wanted to double the price for providing a new
telephone number to 24,000 drams. As a compensation it
suggested it could reduce prices of international
telephone calls up to 70 percent. However, the
Commission declined the proposal.
The company repeated the request 45 days later, as
allowed by the law, but it was again denied by the
Commission.
Commission chairman Robert Nazarian said they hope
that the new owner of ArmenTel (it was sold to Russian
Vimpelcom at 342 million euros) will be able to use
this short period of time to assess the situation
inside the company and reach through open debates with
the Commission a result that would satisfy all sides.
ArmenTel has about 600,000 fixed-line and 400,000
mobile service subscribers, and uses the GSM 900 and
CDMA standards.