Armenia internet traffic biggest among CIS countries

Review of January 17-23 information technology and telecommunication events.

Armenia's internet traffic is the biggest among the CIS countries, where VimpelCom offers its services. ArmenTel subscribers use 300 TBytes monthly, passing ahead of Kazakhstan. The network capacity of external channels has increased 137 times since Beeline entered the Armenian market. Two circles of fiber optic backbone were build throughout the country in 2010.

PanARMENIAN.Net - Technical Director for the CIS Countries of VimpelCom group of companies Ilya Chulyukin said that above 6 Tbytes of traffic is generated weekly in 2G/3G networks of Beeline in Armenia, while the share of 3G/UMTS networks makes 90% of the traffic. “In Armenia, where subscribers of 3G networks are the most active, one Node-B (base station) generates around 10 Gbytes of traffic daily, what coincides with the consumption volume in Europe. Armenia is a unique country, with the majority of its citizens residing abroad. And family ties are strong between them, due to which they communicate with each other via Internet, make international calls and visit social websites,” Chulyukin said.

The tender for construction of the national telecommunication network with capacity of 100Mbit/s will be announced among Armenia’s internet providers soon. Investments to the project will total $60-100mln. The operator, which wins the tender, should provide the network for rent to other interested companies. The network construction works is supposed to be launched in three months.

According to informal data of marketing agencies, the number of ArmenTel subscribers totaled 643 thousand by the end of 2010. The company will publish the official data in February. The company had 581 thousand registered subscribers as of the third quarter of 2010.

The number of Orange Armenia subscribers has reached 500 thousand, according to recent estimates. As Orange Armenia CEO Bruno Duthoit said, the operator’s subscriber base increased twice over the last quarter of 2010.

iPad sale was suspended in Armenia. “France Telecom is negotiating the product price in Apple Inc.,” Orange Armenia spokesperson Lilit Martirosyan told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter.

“We did not withdraw iPads. 20 samples which we imported to determine the demand for the product have been sold. Consequently, if there is nothing to sale anymore, advertisement is stopped as well,” she said, adding that the post-guarantee service is available for all iPads owners.

Head of the Financial System Policy and Financial Stability Department of the Central Bank of Armenia Vahe Vardanyan said that 99% of cars of Armenia’s traffic police are equipped with computers to access the united data base of the mandatory vehicle insurance. Currently, the process is being tested. In several days, policemen will have the opportunity to obtain online information in their cars on the authenticity of policies of the mandatory vehicle insurance from the united data base.

The Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) announced the launch of IT to Business new project envisaging monthly meetings between ICT companies and potential investors. In the course of the meetings, ICT companies will be given a chance to present their projects with sectors such as construction, medicine, mining, trade, banks, insurance to be focused on.

Spokesperson for Armavia air company Nana Avetisova said that the company considers the possibility of in-flight mobile and Internet services provision. “However, it is not a matter of couple of months,” Avetisova told a PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. Meanwhile, Russian MegaFon operator set tariffs for mobile services in airplanes of Aeroflot air company. Russian media reported that the cost of one SMS will make 10 rubles, GPRS traffic – 44 rubles/100Kbyte. Voice services are not provided yet. It will be possible to make calls during flights based on tests results, as well as with the approval of passengers. Aeroflot and MegafFon announced the launch of in-flight mobile services provision on December 24, 2010. The communication services will be free of charge until the end of January, while the set tariffs will be charged starting from February 1.

Gayane Mirzoyan / PanARMENIAN News
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