FRENCH MOBILE OPERATOR SET TO LAUNCH ARMENIA NETWORK
Hovannes Shoghikian

Armenialiberty.org
Sept 9 2009

The French telecommunications operator Orange remains on track to
launch Armenia’s third mobile phone network before the end of this
year, a top company executive said on Wednesday.

Bruno Duthoit, the chief executive of the newly registered
Orange-Armenia brand, also insisted that the France Telecom group’s
mobile phone unit is undaunted by the near saturation of the local
market for wireless services.

Orange won last October an international tender for the right to launch
and operate the third Armenian wireless network. It paid 50 million
euros ($72 million) for the license, outbidding two other European
telecom firms short-listed in the government-administered contest.

The company’s decision to take part in the bidding came as a surprise
given the small size of Armenia’s economy and rapid growth of its
wireless sector in recent years. As of last January, an estimated
2.6 million of the country’s 3 million residents had mobile phones
connected to two networks owned by the subsidiaries of Russia’s two
largest wireless operators, MTS and Beeline.

Echoing statements by other Orange executives, Duthoit said the
company feels that there is still room for a new operator’s entry into
the market. "Meeting many people and looking into market studies,
I get the impression that many clients are awaiting an enlargement
of their choice," he told RFE/RL in an interview. "In particular,
there are people who still don’t use mobile phones or use the services
provided by the other operators but would like to have more choice
in the terms of the quality of the services."

Duthoit added that Orange-Armenia does not plan drastic cuts in the
existing mobile phone fees and will instead seek to woo Armenians with
"a new approach, a new perception, a new image and perhaps certain new
services." An Orange spokesman in Paris said late last year that the
French giant will put the emphasis on third-generation (3G) services
such as video calls and broadband Internet connection.

The two other local mobile phone operators, meanwhile, said that they
are gearing up for tighter competition in the market. "Of course,
we are very seriously preparing for the entry of the third operator,"
said Anush Beghloyan, a spokeswoman for the national telecoms company
ArmenTel owned by Beeline. "But we are not afraid and don’t think that
it will reflect negatively on the number of our mobile subscribers."

Ralf Yirikian, the executive director of the rival VivaCell-MTS
network, which boasts more than 2 million subscribers, also claimed
to be ready for "healthy competition" with Europe’s second-largest
mobile operator. Speaking to RFE/RL, Yirikian also admitted that
Orange-Armenia can attract a sizable number of customers.

"Let us not forget that we Armenians, including myself, are a bit of
show-offs and want to have a number of different [cellphone] numbers
with different access code numbers," he said. "So there is room
[for another operator.]"