6. David Sandukhchyan, ‘‘Armenia.’’
7. The Center for Information Law and Policy, http://www.gipi.am.
8. ‘‘High Prices for Internet in Armenia Scare Investors Away,’’ PanARMENIAN.Net, July 2005,
http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=14278.
9. Arminco ISP: http://www.arminco.com/en/dialup/.
10. Because of the requirement to provide basic coverage to a large number of rural villages envisaged by license conditions, Beeline has deployed CDMA450 infrastructure, and today it provides
CDMA Internet services predominantly for rural inhabitants.
11. The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition fined Beeline USD 1 million for refusing to allow smaller ISPs to use its facilities to provide competitive service.
12. In 1994, 49 percent of ownership in the state telecommunications operator, Armenia Telecommunications Company (ArmenTel), was privatized and acquired by Trans World Telecom
(TWT), allegedly an American-owned corporation. Very little is publicly known about the first
phase of ArmenTel’s privatization. In 1997, 90 percent of ArmenTel’s shares, including TWT’s
and most of those owned by the Armenian government, were sold to OTE, a Greek company. In
June 2006, OTE decided to sell most of its shares in ArmenTel and announced an open tender for
the purchase of 90 percent of them. After a six-month evaluation of the commercial offers submitted by two Russian companies and a United Arab Emirates company, the Russian company
VimpelCom was announced as the winning bidder. ArmenTel and VimpelCom announced and
later signed a share sale-purchase agreement. The Armenian government announced that it would
sell its shares in ArmenTel should the operator agree to abolish the monopoly on main telecommunication services.
13. VimpelCom is a leading mobile phone operator in the territory of Russia and the CIS, http://
www.vimpelcom.com.
14. ArmeniaNow.com, ‘‘New Buzz in Mobile Service: ArmenTel becomes Beeline,’’ April 11, 2008,
http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&IID=1182&CID=2894&AID=2965&lng=eng.
15. At present, 1 Mbps international connectivity costs for ISP are from EUR 1,500 to EUR 3,000
(depending on the type of connection, e.g., fiber-optic, satellite) against EUR 12,000 in 2006 and
EUR 16,000 in 2005.
16. IHS Global Insight, ‘‘Armenia: Further Positive News in Armenian Fixed-Line Sector as
Arminco Prepares to Launch Services,’’ May 10, 2009.
17. The incumbent operator provides 90 percent of International uplink connections and provides dial-up and DSL services over PSTN, CDMA, and ISDN networks owned by the company all
over the country. It provides dedicated copper lines (leased local loops) and ISDN lines to ISPs and
private network owners. In May 2008, Beeline installed a 3G network in Yerevan. See Armentel,
http://www.armentel.am; Beeline, http://www.beeline.am.
18. The operator is co-owned by a joint Russian-Armenian company and was founded in 1992.
Arminco LLC owns about 45 percent of the Internet access market. It provides dial-up, xDSL,
Armenia
145
7. The Center for Information Law and Policy, http://www.gipi.am.
8. ‘‘High Prices for Internet in Armenia Scare Investors Away,’’ PanARMENIAN.Net, July 2005,
http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=14278.
9. Arminco ISP: http://www.arminco.com/en/dialup/.
10. Because of the requirement to provide basic coverage to a large number of rural villages envisaged by license conditions, Beeline has deployed CDMA450 infrastructure, and today it provides
CDMA Internet services predominantly for rural inhabitants.
11. The State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition fined Beeline USD 1 million for refusing to allow smaller ISPs to use its facilities to provide competitive service.
12. In 1994, 49 percent of ownership in the state telecommunications operator, Armenia Telecommunications Company (ArmenTel), was privatized and acquired by Trans World Telecom
(TWT), allegedly an American-owned corporation. Very little is publicly known about the first
phase of ArmenTel’s privatization. In 1997, 90 percent of ArmenTel’s shares, including TWT’s
and most of those owned by the Armenian government, were sold to OTE, a Greek company. In
June 2006, OTE decided to sell most of its shares in ArmenTel and announced an open tender for
the purchase of 90 percent of them. After a six-month evaluation of the commercial offers submitted by two Russian companies and a United Arab Emirates company, the Russian company
VimpelCom was announced as the winning bidder. ArmenTel and VimpelCom announced and
later signed a share sale-purchase agreement. The Armenian government announced that it would
sell its shares in ArmenTel should the operator agree to abolish the monopoly on main telecommunication services.
13. VimpelCom is a leading mobile phone operator in the territory of Russia and the CIS, http://
www.vimpelcom.com.
14. ArmeniaNow.com, ‘‘New Buzz in Mobile Service: ArmenTel becomes Beeline,’’ April 11, 2008,
http://www.armenianow.com/?action=viewArticle&IID=1182&CID=2894&AID=2965&lng=eng.
15. At present, 1 Mbps international connectivity costs for ISP are from EUR 1,500 to EUR 3,000
(depending on the type of connection, e.g., fiber-optic, satellite) against EUR 12,000 in 2006 and
EUR 16,000 in 2005.
16. IHS Global Insight, ‘‘Armenia: Further Positive News in Armenian Fixed-Line Sector as
Arminco Prepares to Launch Services,’’ May 10, 2009.
17. The incumbent operator provides 90 percent of International uplink connections and provides dial-up and DSL services over PSTN, CDMA, and ISDN networks owned by the company all
over the country. It provides dedicated copper lines (leased local loops) and ISDN lines to ISPs and
private network owners. In May 2008, Beeline installed a 3G network in Yerevan. See Armentel,
http://www.armentel.am; Beeline, http://www.beeline.am.
18. The operator is co-owned by a joint Russian-Armenian company and was founded in 1992.
Arminco LLC owns about 45 percent of the Internet access market. It provides dial-up, xDSL,
Armenia
145