THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR IN ARMENIA WILL HAVE TO FIGHT FOR CLIENTS

ArmInfo
2008-07-29 16:09:00

The third mobile operator in Armenia will have to fight for
clients since the mobile communication market in Armenia is close to
saturation, Director General of ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline brand) Neicho
Velichkov told ArmInfo Tuesday. He said the two mobile operators in the
market fully satisfy the potential clients in Armenia. ‘International
calculations of the market show that the actual limit of the people
who want to have mobile phones is some 80-85%. If the population of
Armenia is some 2.5-2.8 million people, the new operator will have
little place to act since our client base is about 800,000 people
that of VivaCell is some 1.4 million people’, N.

Velichkov said. He explained that when mobile penetration exceeds
100% in big cities, particularly, in Moscow, it is connected with
the ratio of the operating SIM-cards to the officially registered
ones and not to the real number of residents.

In such situation, he said, only mobile content i.e. games, music
and others, as well as Internet connection, may attract subscribers,
however, the existing operators provide also the given services.

In addition, N. Velichkov said, the payback period of investments
in mobile communication is 3-3.5 years in average. Given the tender
terms by the Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission saying
that a third operator will have to invest 200 million dollars within 3
years, there is hardly ever a company to find it reasonable investing
so much having so limited number of clients.

‘Nevertheless, we do not want to have new ambitious players in
the market.

We are ready for competition, combined market formation favorable
both to operators and naturally to subscribers’, he said.