Armenian provider targets students as users of wireless Internet

Arminfo
26 Jul 04

YEREVAN

Armenia’s largest Internet provider, Arminco, in tandem with the Intel
Corporation, are building the infrastructure in Armenia to introduce
Centrino technology – the wireless Internet, Arminco’s director
Andranik Aleksanyan has said in an interview with Arminfo news agency.

The programme’s main target group are students and therefore Intel’s
concept is to provide as many students as possible with
Centrino-powered laptops, Aleksanyan said. This means opening wireless
Internet hotspots in places where there are many students – in student
cafes and on campuses.

“If we find out that it’s not only students who are interested in the
wireless Internet, then we will ensure that such hotspots are created
all over Yerevan,” Aleksanyan said. As of today, Arminco has opened 50
such hotspots in Yerevan. Altogether they have between 500 and 600
fixed users.

Aleksanyan said that the company’s pricing for Internet services is
standard (except for dial-up links) – five cents per one megabyte of
information. “Whether this is too much or too little is another
matter, but considering the cost for renting the E1 Internet channel
(21,000 dollars per month), this is the minimum that we can get in
Armenia today,” he said. When connecting to a hotspot, the speed of
information transmission per user is 5 megahertz per second.

A radio-modem is installed in the Centrino-powered laptops and it can
provide fixed or mobile Internet connections. The UNICOMP company
produces Centrino laptops in Armenia.