Arka News Agency, Armenia –
June 1 2007

APPROVAL OF NEW RULES OF PROVIDING TELEPHONE SERVICES IN ARMENIA
DELAYED TILL DECEMBER 2007

YEREVAN, June 1. /ARKA/. The approval of new rules of providing
telephone (voice) services in Armenia is delayed till December 2007.
The press secretary of the Public Services Regulatory Commission
(PSRC) Mariam Stepanyan said that the corresponding decision was made
during PSRC Friday session.
She said that new rules are already elaborated; however, they need
supplementary elaboration.
"On the instruction of the PSRC Chairman Robert Nazaryan, the rules
should be ready till December 15 and finally adopted till December
30, 2007, because they should be prepared properly," Stepanyan said.
She said that next week the preliminary version of the document will
be submitted for the consideration of NGOs, which can include their
proposals to improve the document.
In his turn, expert of the Association of Armenia’s consumers Hakob
Gharabekyan pointed out that the present rules of providing telephone
communication in Armenia do not correspond with modern commitments,
as they were approved in 1998.
He reminded that according to the PSRC working plan the new rules
were supposed to be approved in March 2006, however, the project of
new rules has not been made public yet, which is another concession
of Armenia’s authorities to the telecommunication monopolist in the
sphere of landline telephone communication of "ArmenTel" Company.
"ArmenTel" Telecommunications Company is the monopolist landline
telephone network and one of the two mobile operators in Armenia.
100% of "ArmenTel" shares belong to the Russian company "VympelCom"
(BeeLine brand). As of December 2006, the company has 452ths mobile
subscribers and 608.5ths landline telephone subscribers. L.M. -0–