ARMENIAN MOBILE OPERATORS REACH AGREEMENT ON INTERCONNECTION
Michael Lacquiere
World Market Research Centre
Global Insight
August 27, 2009
Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission has achieved
an agreement among the country’s mobile operators on termination
rates. SMS termination will be set at 9 drams ($0US.02) from 1 January
2010 until 30 June, 7 drams from 1 July 2010 until 31 December 2010,
5 drams from 1 January 2011 until 30 June 2011, and 3 drams from 1
July 2011. In terms of voice telephony, termination of a call from
a mobile network to a fixed network in the capital Yerevan will be
set at 9.72 drams per minute from 1 January 2010, and 9 drams per
minute from 1 July 2011. The termination rate for a mobile network to
a fixed network outside Yerevan in peak hours will be 17.8 drams from
January 2010, decreasing to 11.4 drams per minute from 1 July 2011;
and outside peak hours the rate will be 13.38 drams per minute from
1 January 2010 and 11.4 drams per minute from July 2011.
Significance:The Commission reported that negotiations had lasted some
three months, with the conflicting interests of each mobile operator
causing delays. However, the notion of interconnected SMS rates was
proposed by Orange France, based on the experience of European Union
(EU) countries. Orange has yet to launch mobile services in the
country, although it expects to do so by the end of the year. The
market is currently led by Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) unit K-Telecom,
operating under the "Vivacell" brand, while VimpelCom’s Armentel,
operating under the "Beeline" brand, is the second-largest operator.