‘ArmenTel’ CJSC keeps on retarding development of telecommunications
market in Armenia even after refusal of monopolies: providers

2008-05-04 13:57:00

ArmInfo. "ArmenTel" CJSC keeps on retarding development of the
telecommunications market in Armenia even after voluntary refusal of
monopolies since October 1, 2007. The leaders of information and
telecommunication services of Armenia came to such a conclusion during
the forum held in Tsakhkadzor on May 1-3. The forum was organized by
the Union of IT enterprises, the Economy Ministry and the USAID
programme "Competitive Armenian Private Sector " (CAPS).

During the discussions, the forum participants said that after refusal
of the monopoly, "ArmenTel" began to refuse the Internet-providers of
letting its communication channels on lease, explaining this by the
fact that it also needs these channels for development. In fact,
refusal of monopolies released "ArmenTel" of any liabilities in
delivery of the communication channels, that incurred the providers’
displeasure. The problem is that there is one telecommunications
network in the republic which belongs to "ArmenTel" Company, which also
launched a provider business. Although the monopoly in the
telecommunications market has been cancelled de-jure, however it still
exists in fact. The forum participants call on the Armenian authorities
to impose legislative restrictions on the monopolist’s actions. In
particular, they offer to liberalize the so-called "last mile" –
connection from
"ArmenTel" network to the final user.

During the discussions, there were also other proposals on creation of
an alternative network as another way of the problem solution. The
proposals on use of the satellite and radio-relay communication were
not admitted by the forum participants, as it is more expensive and not
so reliable as the fiber-optic one. It was marked that such a
communication may be used only for the big corporate clients or in the
remote regions of Armenia, where there is no communication at all.

During the forum, the problems of the customs and tax legislation and
administration, the network security and education in IT-sphere were
discussed as well.