Armenian government reduces major telecom company's monopoly

[Takmazian Maral]

Armenian government reduces major telecom company's monopoly

Arminfo
22 Nov 04

Yerevan, 22 November: The monopoly of the ArmenTel closed-type
joint-stock company on telephone communication has been reduced from
15 to 11 years in Armenia, Armenian Justice Minister David Arutyunyan
has told journalists.

This provision has been fixed in a recent reconciliation agreement
between the Armenian government and the Greek company OTE Greece's
Telecommunications Organization , which owns 90 per cent of shares in
the ArmenTel company. ArmenTel shares were sold for 142.5m dollars
to the OTE at the end of 1997, and the government provided the
company with a monopoly on telephone communication in the republic
for 15 years.

At present ArmenTel has preserved a monopoly on wire telephone
communications and Internet telephony (IP telephony). In conformity
with the reconciliation agreement, the company has been deprived of
the monopoly on mobile and Internet communication.

Arutyunyan said that a second mobile operator would start functioning
in Armenia in nine to 10 months. It will be Karabakh Telecom, which
has been chosen by the government. The minister said that ArmenTel's
mobile communication services should cover Yerevan and Armenia's
district centers fully by November 2006.