ARMENIA ANNOUNCES TENDER FOR LICENSE FOR ACTIVITY OF THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR IN ARMENIA

ArmInfo
2008-07-18 13:35:00

Armenia has announced a tender for license for activity of a third
mobile operator in Armenia, Press Secretary of Armenian Transport
and Communication Ministry Susanna Tonoyan told ArmInfo.

She said relevant announcement was published in The Financial Times on
17 and 18 July. The parties interested must apply for participation
in a tender within 10 days after it is announced. The companies that
will pass the pre-qualification stage will be named within 40 days. The
winner will be declared within 90 days. The opening offer for 15-year
license is 10 million euros. The third operator must have relevant
experience and ability to invest at least 200 million in development
within 2 years.

The following codes will be provided to the third operator +374 (0)
55 and +374 (0) 95. If the operator fails to use the provided codes
by at least 60% by the end of the year, the PSRC has a right to take
back the unused numbers. The third operator will be provided with GSM
frequency and an opportunity to provide 3G services including voice
and data transmission.

The frequencies will be provided within the following limits: 880-890,
925-935, 1745-1765, 1840-1860, 1910-1915, 1950-1965, 2140-2155 MHz.

At present GSM service providers in Armenia are ArmenTel CJSC (100%
subsidiary of Russian VimpelCom OJSC with trademark Beeline) and
K-Telecom with trademark VivaCell, 88% stake of the latter belong to
Russian MTS operator. By the data of the companies, the number of
subscribers was up 45.5% over 2007 to 1,824,344. The greatest part
of the market belong top VivaCell.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress