Ahead of the New Year, VivaCell-MTS has launched two base stations on a 12-km-long area of the Mastara-Maralik road of Yerevan-Gyumri highway of strategic importance. What makes the base stations different from regular ones is that they use solar power. For years, this thinly populated area had not had reliable mobile communication because of the absence of power supply.

Base stations using solar energy give an opportunity to considerably reduce the consumption of electricity supplied by the electricity distribution network, at the same time reducing the company’s expenses on the maintenance of the infrastructure. VivaCell-MTS strategy of providing reliable 2G/3G network coverage in thinly populated areas and on highways of strategic importance is not based on the return-on-investment principle and the desire to reduce operational expenses. The Company aims at closing the technological gap between the cities and rural communities. The use of alternative energy by VivaCell-MTS is a vivid example of the Company’s responsible approach towards natural resource management.

“As a business operation, we aim at increasing the share of renewable energy in the production value chain. The outcome is two-fold: we reduce the cost of production and, at the same time, reduce the consumption of electricity supply received from traditional sources. It has been proven that the use of alternative energy contributes to the competitive advantage, in addition to strong environmental imperative, more than salient issue in Armenia”, VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian commented.

Throughout 2015 also, VivaCell-MTS continued the coverage expansion and network strengthening works across Armenia. The Company has installed 80 new 2G/3G mobile base stations. The launch of new base stations will add the capacity of the network, improve the quality and speed of Internet services as well as the quality of voice services.  In general, VivaCell-MTS, the indisputable leader in terms of the mobile network coverage, has 2370 mobile base stations (2G-1185, 3G-1185), providing 2G and 3G coverage for the 99,8 % and 98,8% of the population respectively.  

In 2015 4G/LTE technology was made available in Jermuk resort town, where LTE mobile base stations had been installed recently, ahead of the New Year. The LTE networks in Vagharshapat and Armavir were enriched by one LTE base station each. Currently the only LTE network in Armenia encompasses Yerevan, Gyumri, Vanadzor, Dilijan, Tsaghkadzor, Armavir, Vagharshapat and Jermuk. The number of LTE mobile base stations is 255, providing 46,6% of the population with LTE coverage.