Director General of ArmenTel: Two different state bodies should not
qualify ArmenTel as the dominating market participant by applying
different methods

2009-09-25 16:08:00

ArmInfo. Two different state bodies should not qualify ArmenTel as the
dominating market participant by applying different methods, Director
General of ArmenTel igor Klimko told journalists, Friday, when
commenting the Sept 24 decision of the Armenian State Commission for
Protection of Economic Competition. According to the decision,
ArmenTel and Fibernet Communication are acknowledged the dominating
companies in the market of international transit of data transmission
for ensuring an access to internet. The companies’ shares in the
market (53,9% and 46,1%) are calculated on the basis of the total
value of services provided by these companies in the first half year
of 2009.

"The international practice shows that it is more correct to determine
the dominating entities by the volume of their services, and not by
their value as it is possible to buy the same goods (internet
communication) from different providers at different prices. As a
result, the prime cost of the same service may range from 1.5 to 2
times. We hope that in settling this problem we’ll manage to come to a
mutually acceptable motivated solution with the State Commission",-
Klimko said.

To recall, in September 2008 ArmenTel was acknowledged the dominating
operator of fixed telephone communication in Armenia by the decision
of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia. In
February 2009, by PSRC decision, a number of telecommunication
companies of the country received numbering capacities of fixed
communication without geographic codes.