TILL THE END OF THIS YEAR ARMENTEL IS READY TO RENOUNCE ALL OF ITS MONOPOLIES
Arminfo
2007-04-18 19:01:00
Till the end of this year ArmenTel is ready to renounce all of its
monopolies, including the one over the fixed telephony, the director
general of ArmenTel, Oleg Bliznuk, said during a press-conference
today.
Presently, ArmenTel and the Commission on the Regulation of Public
Services are considering the terms of the renouncement. Bliznuk says
that the renouncement of monopolies will have no negative impact on
the company’s performance.
"By that time we will be ready for healthy competition," Bliznuk
said. Full liberalization of Armenia’s telecoms market was one of the
preconditions of the Armenian Government when it was selling its 10%
stake to VimpelCom.
Bliznuk noted that the fixed phone network is profitable, but gave up
to say how much profit it brought last year. He assured that ArmenTel
will fulfill all of its obligations for digitizing and modernizing
Armenia’s fixed phone network before its sale to another company.
To remind, on Nov 16 2006 OTE (Greece) sold 90% of ArmenTel’s shares
to VimpelCom (Russia) for 342mln EUR. ArmenTel still has a monopoly
over fixed telephony. The relevant license expires in 2009.