FRENCH ORANGE OFFERS HIGHEST PRICE FOR ARMENIA’S THIRD MOBILE OPERATOR LICENSE

ARKA
Oct 6, 2008

YEREVAN, October 6. /ARKA/. The winner of the tender for the third
mobile operator in Armenia will be officially announced in three days,
Gurgen Sargsyan, the RA Minister of Transport and Communications,
stated at the briefing after unsealing tender packages of the three
pretender companies.

The Orange company (France Telecom main brand) offered the highest
price for the GSM-license, â~B¬51.5mln, followed by M$A Tele2 AB
(Sweden), â~B¬45.6mln, and CEO Blackrock Communication (England and
Ireland), â~B¬31.66mln.

Minister Sargsyan stated the company with the highest price offer
will be the winner.

The winner company will be licensed for ten days and will have
to registered in Armenia until December 15 and then develop its
infrastructure. The company will able to offer its services in Armenia
in six months.

"Our previous experience showed us that a new operator’s accession
into market contributes to cut in prices, increase of quality and
expenditure of offered services," said the Minister.

He noted the company with the second highest price offer for getting
the license will become the tender winner if the first one does not
pay the lump sum of the permanent license before the deadline.

Jean-Michel Serre, the Orange Director of International Business
Development in Europe and Asia, stated the company i s waiting for
the final tender results to start its active works in Armenia.

Armenia announced a tender for the third mobile operator this July. 17
companies applied for the tender, but three companies preliminarily
qualified – Orange (France Telecom, France), CEO Blackrock
Communication (England and Ireland) and M$A Tele2 AB (Sweden).

Two mobile operators are currently working in Armenia – ArmenTell
(VympelCom, the Beeline brand) and VivaCell-MTS (MTS). G. S. -0–

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