GNC Alfa has completed the first stage of IP/MPLS network construction with 10Gbps network capacity. Networks in Yerevan and 16 Armenian towns have been put into operation. Coverage of 29 towns is envisaged till yearend. GNC-Alfa is a telecommunications network services operator in Armenia. The Company owns a fiber-optic network passing along the Armenia-Iran gas pipeline. GNC-Alfa network, built on technologies of American Juniper Networks, is designed to provide wholesale transport network services to fixed and mobile operators and ISPs, as well as transit services via Armenia.

President of the Artsakh Republic Bako Sahakyan met General Manager of Karabakh Telecom CJSC Ralph Yirikian to discuss the company’s investment policy, tariff revision as well as humanitarian programs carried out in the republic. Artsakh Republic Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan was also attending.

Information security was in the focus of discussions over the past week. Armenian bloggers have created wiki.hayqpress.com internet resource as an alternative to largest internet encyclopedia – Wikipedia. The created resource provides unbiased and neutral information on Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh.

Communication field proceeds totaled AMD 66.8 bln in January-May 2010. The figure grew by 10.6% as compared with the same period of 2009. 599 computers were assembled in Armenia in January-May 2010. 6.6% growth was recorded in computer production in January-May 2010 as compared with the same period of 2009, the Armenian National Statistical Service reported.

The fixed-line telephony in Yerevan will be completely digitized during the first half of 2011. Besides, the digitalization process in the republic as a whole is also under way, and there are regions, where these works have been already finished, said Igor Klimko of ArmenTel CEO. 2009 report of the International Telecommunications Union reads that ArmenTel invested around $200mln to digitize the fixed-line telephony in the country within recent years. According to the organization, the digitalization rate in Yerevan totaled 90% as of April 2009.

Education and qualification improvement were in the focus of IT companies’ leaders who gathered for a meeting in Tsaghkadzor. Bilateral contacts should be established to develop industry and education, according Vache Kirakosyan, head of the IT department at the Armenian Economy Ministry. “Enterprises with rich resources are working to this end. Synopsis and National Instruments apply interesting schemes for cooperation, while minor companies have to anchor hopes with badly-educated university graduates Education system should be reorganized to develop technologies in Armenia,” he said.

XterNet clients are looking for other providers. A month ago the company suspended hosting and maintenance services. The company director has supposedly left Armenia.

The Armenian government has discussed usage of Armenian Unicode fonts for state structures’ records. “Armenian state structures are using various encodings in their work. Moreover, their websites are often unreadable because of the encoding used,” Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said. He also instructed all Ministers to open e-mails at gov.am domain. According to head of the government administration David Sargsyan, the problem may be resolved in a couple of weeks.

The Armenian National Statistical Service issued the results for IT sector in January-April 2010. According to the data provided, the revenue increased by 6.2% as compared with the 2009 index and totaled AMD 52.9 bln. During the reporting period, 459 computers were assembled, what is 3.4% more than last year (475). 2% drop was recorded in tariffs for communication services.

Open Society Institute Foundation (Soros Foundation) announced localization contest for Symbian, Android and Windows mobile operational systems. With application process completed, expert team will announce the winner to be in charge of project development. Armenian Mobile OS localization program development will be finalized by autumn 2010. Localization package requirements are: Symbian 9.1, 9.2, 9.3, 9.5 (Nokia S60 3rd and 5th Editions), Maemo, Android and WindowsMobile 6.1, 6.5 7.0. OS support; open source programming language.