Armenia Telephone Company
| Armenia Telephone Company | |
|---|---|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1997 |
| Seat | Avetis Aharonjan St. 2, 375014, Yerevan |
| management | Sergei Avdejew |
| Number of employees | 5000 |
| Website | https://www.beeline.am/en |
The Armenia Telephone Company, or ArmenTel for short , was the largest telecommunications company in Armenia . The company has been fully owned by the second largest Russian mobile operator Veon (see Beeline ) since 2006 and has been operating under the name Beeline since 2008 .
history
In the Armenian SSR , telephony was regulated by the Ministry of Post and Communications. The telephone network was operated by a monopoly in the capital Yerevan and the rest of the republic. In 1995 the newly created Armenia Telephone Company (ArmenTel) was sold as a monopoly for international calls to 49% to the American company Trans-World Telecom. In 1996 ArmenTel merged with the operator of the Yerevan telephone network and in 1997 with the operator of the network in the rest of the country.
Owned by OTE from 1998 to 2006
In 1998 the Greek ex-monopoly OTE took over 90% of ArmenTel, the remaining shares remained with the Armenian government. The government granted ArmenTel a monopoly for 15 years, while OTE undertook to invest in the fixed network, the construction and the development of a cellular network. According to its own information, ArmenTel invested around 200 million US dollars in the years 1998-2003 alone.
However, OTE was accused of exploiting ArmenTel's monopoly position and of insufficiently fulfilling the conditions entered into during the privatization . Internet tariffs were around three times as high as in Georgia and Azerbaijan . After OTE threatened to withdraw from ArmenTel, a compromise was found with the Armenian government on November 4, 2004 , in which OTE remains a monopoly in the fixed line business. In return, investment commitments were made more concrete and OTE agreed to give up the monopoly of the ArmenTel GSM mobile communications division, whereupon a second mobile communications license was quickly awarded to the Lebanese company VivaCell for only 7 million US dollars .
When the new competitor in Armenia put its mobile network into operation on July 1, 2005, the ArmenTels collapsed for weeks. In spring 2006, customers were asked to pay for fictitious online phone calls to countries such as East Timor . ArmenTel claimed not to be responsible for the bills. Processes are pending.
ArmenTel is the second largest taxpayer in Armenia (e.g. 15.3 billion drams in 2005 , the equivalent of around 28 million euros).
Since the takeover by VimpelCom in 2006
On November 3, 2006, Beeline emerged as the winner of a multi-stage bidding process, in the first stage of which Deutsche Telekom had also participated, and then took over OTE's stake for EUR 341.9 million (plus assumed liabilities of around 40 Million Euro). On March 22, 2007, the Armenian government announced that it would sell the remaining 10% of the shares (1,883,771 shares) to VimpelCom for around EUR 28 million. H. at the same price that VimpelCom had previously paid for the other shares. In 2008 the name ArmenTel was finally changed to Beeline.
Memberships
International Telecommunication Union
swell
- ^ History. ArmenTel, archived from the original on March 12, 2006 ; accessed on August 8, 2014 .
- ^ "Armenian Telecom Market Liberalization Shelved"
- ^ "Government Disclose Deal With New Mobile Operator"
- ↑ "300 крупнейших компаний Армении пополнили госбюджет на $ 478.7 млн."
- ↑ "ВымпелКом 'станет единоличным владельцем компании, АрменТел' - телекоммуникационного оператора Армении" ( Memento of the original on 30 September 2007 at the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link is automatically inserted and not yet tested. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
Web links
- Official website (Armenian, English)
- ArmeniaNow report on victims of false accounting (Armenian, English)