Interview of Samvel Arabajyan, Member of the Armenian Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC), to Mediamax Agency and Itel.am portal

- At which stage is the process of demonopolization of the Armenian telecommunication sphere?  

- The process of demonopolization is stage-by-stage, and a part of it is already accomplished. In the first place, the license of “ArmenTel” company was edited and its monopoly rights were abolished. Then documents were elaborated, which regulate the market of real services as to spheres, and this became a bases for the entry of new players in the market. Within the framework of the given process, licenses were issued, processes of interconnect and rent of channels were initiated, as a result of which an environment and opportunities for work in the competitive field were presented. Then the stage of formation of an investment field and entry of more serious players in the market followed.  

After all this, we expect formation of a more real competitive field in all directions of the telecommunication sphere, after which the role of PSRC will mainly be to protect and to secure an equal competitive field.

The first two stages are already accomplished, and after editing “ArmenTel” Company’s license, the first competitive Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) market was formed, which does not require volume investments. In this sphere, PSRC issued about 100 licenses, the fact allowing companies developing successful competition in the market. These companies played their positive role in the market, contributing to decrease of tariffs for outgoing calls. However, this does not satisfy PSRC, since this market does not contribute to development of infrastructures. This is why the Commission elaborated more serious documents, which regulated the relations with the historically dominating player – “ArmenTel”, and gave providers an opportunity to integrate their new infrastructures with the already existing ones.

For the whole interview of Samvel Arabajyan click here.