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GOVERNMENT BLOCKS SURGE IN PHONE TARIFFS
By Shakeh Avoyan
Armenia Liberty
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
Oct 11 2005
The Armenian government will block a steep rise in fixed-line phone
charges planned by the ArmenTel national telecommunications operator,
Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian said on
Tuesday.
ArmenTel's requested the Transport and Communications Ministry's
mandatory permission for the tariff hike in a letter last August. The
Greek-owned company wants to double the existing subscription fee of
950 drams ($2) per month and cut by half the length of time covered
by it.
Outgoing local phone calls extending beyond that monthly limit that
are charged on a per-minute basis. ArmenTel would like to drastically
raise its existing charge of 4 drams per minute as well.
Manukian said his ministry has studied the telecom operator's request
and found it "unjustified." But he indicated that the Armenian
government would agree to a more modest tariff rise.
"We will be proposing economically substantiated tariffs [to
ArmenTel]. We never make proposals that are not beneficial for the
population," Manukian told a news conference. But he refused to
elaborate on those proposals.
The government and ArmenTel, which bitterly disagreed on the fixed-line
charges in the past, will now have to sort out their differences at
the negotiating table. "If we do not reach agreement in the next 45
days ... the current tariffs will remain in force," said Manukian. He
said the government is interested in striking a compromise deal with
ArmenTel because failure to do so would automatically prolong the
company's legal monopoly on fixed-line telephony by three years.
ArmenTel, which is 90 percent owned by Greece's OTE, agreed last
year to give up that monopoly in 2009 in an out-of-court settlement
of its long-running disputes with the government in Yerevan. The
deal paved the way for last July's launch of Armenia's second mobile
phone network which has already rendered wireless service far more
accessible and affordable for the population.
But the OTE subsidiary also clinched important concessions such as
a government pledge to maintain its highly controversial exclusive
rights to Armenia's Internet connection with the outside world. The
ArmenTel monopoly is widely blamed by Armenian information technology
experts on the high cost and poor quality of the service.
The monopoly appears to be the main reason why ArmenTel has been one
of OTE's best-performing divisions ever since its 1998 takeover by the
Greek telecom giant. Despite losing its grip on the lucrative mobile
telephony, ArmenTel posted a 66.7 percent surge in its earnings in the
first half of this year. They totaled $20.6 million during that period.
By Shakeh Avoyan
Armenia Liberty
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep
Oct 11 2005
The Armenian government will block a steep rise in fixed-line phone
charges planned by the ArmenTel national telecommunications operator,
Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian said on
Tuesday.
ArmenTel's requested the Transport and Communications Ministry's
mandatory permission for the tariff hike in a letter last August. The
Greek-owned company wants to double the existing subscription fee of
950 drams ($2) per month and cut by half the length of time covered
by it.
Outgoing local phone calls extending beyond that monthly limit that
are charged on a per-minute basis. ArmenTel would like to drastically
raise its existing charge of 4 drams per minute as well.
Manukian said his ministry has studied the telecom operator's request
and found it "unjustified." But he indicated that the Armenian
government would agree to a more modest tariff rise.
"We will be proposing economically substantiated tariffs [to
ArmenTel]. We never make proposals that are not beneficial for the
population," Manukian told a news conference. But he refused to
elaborate on those proposals.
The government and ArmenTel, which bitterly disagreed on the fixed-line
charges in the past, will now have to sort out their differences at
the negotiating table. "If we do not reach agreement in the next 45
days ... the current tariffs will remain in force," said Manukian. He
said the government is interested in striking a compromise deal with
ArmenTel because failure to do so would automatically prolong the
company's legal monopoly on fixed-line telephony by three years.
ArmenTel, which is 90 percent owned by Greece's OTE, agreed last
year to give up that monopoly in 2009 in an out-of-court settlement
of its long-running disputes with the government in Yerevan. The
deal paved the way for last July's launch of Armenia's second mobile
phone network which has already rendered wireless service far more
accessible and affordable for the population.
But the OTE subsidiary also clinched important concessions such as
a government pledge to maintain its highly controversial exclusive
rights to Armenia's Internet connection with the outside world. The
ArmenTel monopoly is widely blamed by Armenian information technology
experts on the high cost and poor quality of the service.
The monopoly appears to be the main reason why ArmenTel has been one
of OTE's best-performing divisions ever since its 1998 takeover by the
Greek telecom giant. Despite losing its grip on the lucrative mobile
telephony, ArmenTel posted a 66.7 percent surge in its earnings in the
first half of this year. They totaled $20.6 million during that period.