WB TO ALLOCATE $1MLN TO ARMENIA FOR INTERNET ACCESS PROGRAM

ARKA
Feb 23, 2009

YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. The World Bank (WB) will allocate $1mln
to Armenia for preparing an Internet access program.

Bagrat Yengibaryan, Director of the Enterprise Incubator Foundation
(EIF) reported that the RA Ministry of Economy and the WB are to
sign a relevant agreement within a week, with the EIF to elaborate
the program.

The core of the program is the approaches and models to be elaborated
in the country to ensure the cooperation between the government and
private sectors to improve Internet access, reduce prices and upgrade
the quality, Yengibaryan said.

He pointed out that, despite an essential fall in the cost and
much higher quality of Internet services, they are still at an
unsatisfactory level.

Among the causes are mismanagement and Armenia’s geographical
location, because of which very few cables can run through Armenia,
Yengibaryan said.

He pointed out that the RA Ministry of Economy is taking serious steps.

Specifically, it has elaborated an IT development strategy placing
emphasis not only on the IT development, but also on the development
of information community.

The concept provides for specific programs, including the ones of
Internet access improvement and computerization.

Hovik Musaelyan, CEO, Synopsys Armenia, pointed out unsatisfactory
Internet access in Armenia, which hinders the development of Armenian
IT comp anies especially amid the global crisis.

He pointed out that the major obstacle is the quality of Internet
services rather than their cost, which often endangers the
implementation of projects.