THIRD OPERATOR OF MOBILE PHONE COMMUNICATION IN ARMENIA TO BE KNOWN BY
JUNE 2008

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. The third opetator in Armenia’s
mobile phone communication market will be known by June of next year.
The RA minister of transport and communication Andranik Manukian stated
at the December 27 press conference that a tender commission has
alreday been created based on the government’s decision. He said that
this year the number of ArmenTel’s mobile communication subscribers has
reached 500 thousand, while that of VivaCell’s subscribers – a million.

In the words of the minister, the fact that the right of international
access for data transfer and Internet services was not made an
exclusive right has allowed to ensure the entrance of the second
Internet operator into the communication market, which has resulted in
a sharp fall of tariffs: the payment for a channel with a speed of 2
megabits has declined from 13,500 to 3,000 dollars.

A. Manukian said that 80% of analog stations have been digitalized,
while digitalization of the rest is in process. All villages with the
population of over 50 people have been provided with phone
communication. The phone communication of villages with over 800
residents have been digitalized.