Yerevan /Mediamax/. Knightsbridge International Telecommunications Holding Company##, which has submitted an application to participate in the tender to chose the third mobile connection operator in Armneia, enters the Knightsbridge Group, the President of which is the former Prime Minister of Armenia Armen Sarkisian.

Mediamax notes that on January 31, the President of Armenia Robert Kocharian received in Yerevan the President of Alcatel-Lucent Company Serge Tchuruk and the President of Knightsbridge Group Armen Sarkisian. The sides discussed the prospects for implementation of innovational technologies in the Armenian economy and the scientific-research sphere, as well as cooperation in the sphere of securing Armenia with speedy and high-quality internet.

On January 22 of 2008, Armen Sarkisian had a meeting with the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguli Berdimukhamedov in Ashgabat and stated that Knightsbridge Group is ready to be an operator and investor of a project on introducing wireless broadband networks in Turkmenistan.

Mediamax notes that in 2006, Knightsbridge Associates set up consortium with VTEL Holdings and participated in the tender to purchase “ArmenTel” operator.

From 17 companies, which have submitted applications to participate in the tender, well-known players are France Telecom and the Swedish Tele 2. Tele 2 is successfully working in the Russian market – in the course of the recent year, the number of its subscribers in Russia grew for 22,2% and made 9,46mln.

Spokesman of the Russian Eventis Telecom Maria Safronova confirmed the participation of the company in the tender, however, she refrained from additional comments. Eventis Telecom has assets in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova and Uzbekistan.

Another Russian participant of the tender is Auroratel Company, which a few years ago was one of the main players in the Armenian market of IP-telephony. It is noted in the official website of the company that “Auroratel has an exclusive contract for traffic termination with the leading mobile operator in Armenia - VivaCell”.