ARMENIAN INTERNET MONOPOLY SCRAPPED
By Ruben Meloyan

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Dec 18 2006

The ArmenTel national telecommunications company on Monday officially
relinquished its controversial legal monopoly on Armenia’s Internet
communication with the outside world, making good on one of the
promises given by its new Russian owner.

The move, formalized by the Public Services Regulatory Commission, will
be welcomed by local Internet service providers and their customers
that have long complained about the poor quality and high cost of
the service.

VimpelCom, a leading Russian mobile phone operator, pledged to give
up the lucrative monopoly immediately after it paid nearly $500
million to buy a 90 percent share in ArmenTel from the Hellenic
Telecommunication Organization (OTE) last month. Oleg Bliznyuk,
ArmenTel’s recently appointed executive director, said the Russian
firm stands for a full liberalization of the Armenian telecom market
and is ready to face "civilized competition."

"Every Internet provider will now have the right to choose their
source of external Internet connection," one of Bliznyuk’s deputies,
Hayk Fahramazian, told RFE/RL.

Exclusive rights to all forms of telecommunication were a key term of
ArmenTel’s 1998 takeover by OTE. The Greek telecom giant was forced to
abandon its grip on mobile telephony two years ago after its dramatic
failure to develop the wireless service in Armenia. But it resisted
strong pressure for a similar liberalization of the Internet market.

Armenia’s external Internet traffic has until now been carried out
through a single fibro-optic cable running to neighboring Georgia,
with ArmenTel failing to develop alternative satellite channels of
communication. Local Internet providers say this is why they have
been unable inexpensive high-speed service to corporate and individual
users. That has in turn been widely regarded as a serious obstacle to
the development of information technology, one of the most promising
sectors of Armenia’s economy.

Samvel Arabajian, a member of the state regulatory body, said the
end of the monopoly should remedy the situation. "We expect that
competition will lead to a drop in prices and an increase in quality,"
he told RFE/RL.

ArmenTel also abandoned on Monday its exclusive right to service
external phone calls. This means that the country’s second mobile
phone operator, VivaCell, will no longer have operate its subscribers’
international phone calls via ArmenTel.