STATE COMMITTEE FOR ECONOMIC COMPETITION OF ARMENIA PROVIDES ARMENTEL WITH 30 DAYS TO SETTLE ISSUE OF ‘LAST MILE’
arminfo
2008-07-30 14:51:00
ArmInfo. The State Committee for Economic Competition of Armenia
provided ArmenTel CJSC with 30 days to settle the issue of provision of
the ‘last mile’ to Internet providers, Ashot Shahnazaryan, Chairman
of the Committee said at a meeting of the Committee. To recall,
providers demand from ArmeTel a right to provide internet services
like Hi Line service of ArmenTel. A. Shahnazaryan underlined that
provision of the ‘last mile’ i.e. wires linking home phones and
operators meets the RA Law ‘On e-communication’. ‘It meets the
standards of the telecommunication sector in Europe where owners
of telecommunication network have been repeatedly fined dozens of
millions of euros for refusal to provide Internet-providers the
‘last mile", Shahnazaryan said.
‘We are ready for a dialogue with providers but the regulations of the
‘last mile’ provision, the rights and responsibilities of every party
to the infrastructure must be strictly indicated in the legislation. In
Europe companies were fined after relevant law was passed’, Alexander
Birman, ArmenTel Director for Operations, said.
For his part, David Sandukhchyan, Head of ArmenTel Juridical Service,
said that in its decision the Committee has not exactly mentioned
which market of services ArmenTel occupies a dominating position
or is de-facto monopolist in. ‘Market of Internet-services is not
included here since other big companies and not we are included in
the register of dominating subjects of the market’, D. Sandukhchyan
said. He underlined that after the official decision of the Committee
the procedure of appeal will be determined.
For his part, Vice President of Web provider Kolya Hovhannisyan
called the given decision by the Committee optimal. ‘Fining ArmenTel
would not be in favor of other providers if the situation were left
unchanged. To develop business in conformity with the law is of great
importance to me. That is why I share the stance of ArmenTel regarding
the necessity of such regulations to strictly define who and in what
cases is responsible for failures and breakdowns. There are also
other questions that must be underlined in the legislation’, he said.
To recall, in May 2008 ArmenTel and a number of Internet-providers
signed a memorandum that outlined the possible provision of
Internet-services by providers via telephone wire.