Still in 2009 penetration of the Internet in Armenia was estimated less than 15 percent, but today, according to various estimates, this figure approaches 80 percent.
According to recent reports of the Commission on Regulation of Public Services of Armenia in October 2010, the Internet is accessed by nearly half of the citizens of Armenia (47, 1 percent). At the same time, some Armenian experts consider these data to be overestimated.
Obviously, this figure has been reached due to the increase of Internet users via mobile phones. According to the commission, only 160,000 people in Armenia use broadband access – high speed Internet connection. Igor Mkrtumyan, president of the ‘Internet Community’ NGO, considers that an independent survey should be conducted to reveal the number of Internet users in Armenia.
In turn, chairman of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises Karen Vardanyan noted that there is no a common approved calculation method of internet users. “If considering users through smart and mobile phones, then the statistics of 1, 5 million users – is true. However, we must take into consideration the actual users of the Internet through DSL, optical communication channels,” says Karen Vardanyan.
Still in 2009 penetration of the Internet in Armenia was estimated less than 15 percent, but today, according to various estimates, this figure approaches 80 percent.
According to recent reports of the Commission on Regulation of Public Services of Armenia in October 2010, the Internet is accessed by nearly half of the citizens of Armenia (47, 1 percent). At the same time, some Armenian experts consider these data to be overestimated.
Obviously, this figure has been reached due to the increase of Internet users via mobile phones. According to the commission, only 160,000 people in Armenia use broadband access – high speed Internet connection. Igor Mkrtumyan, president of the ‘Internet Community’ NGO, considers that an independent survey should be conducted to reveal the number of Internet users in Armenia.
In turn, chairman of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises Karen Vardanyan noted that there is no a common approved calculation method of internet users. “If considering users through smart and mobile phones, then the statistics of 1, 5 million users – is true. However, we must take into consideration the actual users of the Internet through DSL, optical communication channels,” says Karen Vardanyan.
The three mobile operators of Armenia state on nearly 100 percent coverage of the country with networks of mobile Internet connection (through technologies 2G, 3G, GSM, etc.). Thus, the 3G coverage by operators ‘Orange Armenia’ and ‘VivaCell-MTS’ is 95percent, and coverage of GPRS by ‘VivaCell-MTS’ – 99,8 percent.
[[wysiwyg_imageupload:72:]]According to the spokesman of ‘VivaCell-MTS’ Vahe Isahakyan, subscribers to broadband Internet connection form 15 percent of the total number of the company subscribers in Yerevan and 85 percent – in the regions. It is noteworthy, that 43,000 subscribers of this operator use broadband Internet and more than 732,000 – Internet through mobile devices.
“Today our customers in the regions have no problem with internet access. More than 650 communities in Armenia (out of 932 communities) are provided by the Internet of our company,” he says.
According to the spokesman of ‘VivaCell-MTS’ Vahe Isahakyan, subscribers to broadband Internet connection is 15 percent of the total number of the company subscribers in Yerevan and 85percent – in the regions. It is noteworthy, that 43,000 subscribers of this operator use broadband Internet and more than 732,000 – Internet through mobile devices.
As reported by ‘ArmenTel’, 99 percent of Armenia’s population is able to use mobile and fixed network of the company. According to the data of the first months of 2011, 24 cities and dozens of villages of Armenia with a total population of more than 2, 5 million people, are covered with the 3G network.
“We will continue to expand the 3G network, taking into consideration the growing demand for services of mobile Internet both in Yerevan and in the regions of Armenia,” says Anush Begloyan, spokesman of ‘ArmenTel’.
Meanwhile, according to preliminary results of the research conducted by the ‘Enterprise Incubator’ Foundation, only 80percent of the population has an access to the Internet connection and only 35percent of the population uses the Internet through computers. As the head of the Foundation Bagrat Yengibaryan noted, among the regions of Armenia the Internet infrastructure is best developed in the Lori and Aragatsotn regions, relatively worse – in the region of Gegharkunik.
As repeatedly stated in the Government of the Republic of Armenia, in order to bring the Internet to all corners of the country a national network of broadband Internet with a capacity of 100 Mbps will be built in the next 3 years in Armenia. Investments in this project are estimated at $ 60 million – $ 100 million, and the operator, who will win the tender, should provide a network for rent to other interested companies, and attempts to use the network by only one company will be prevented.
Meanwhile, ‘ArmenTel’ has already expressed its intention to participate in the tender. According to the company General Director Igor Klimko, the ‘ArmenTel’ already has such a network, simply some trunk rings should be built to it. He estimated such a network, for the most part already constructed, a minimum of $ 500 million.
Building of a network of high-speed broadband Internet in Armenia is part of the program to improve the competitiveness of technologies realized by the Government of Armenia jointly with the World Bank. In late November, the World Bank has approved the decision to provide $ 24 million for this program.
The “weak point” in the development of the Internet in Armenia is the connection speed. So, Armenia is the 123rd country in the world with speed of downloading from the Internet – 1, 91 Mbps and the 114th with uploading speed – 0,67 Mbps. The rankings are drawn up by Net Index, based on the testing data of IP-addresses, conducted by Speedtest.net service between August 2008 and February 2011.
Among the 15 post-Soviet countries, Armenia is at second lowest, ahead only of Tajikistan. For comparison, Georgia and Azerbaijan occupy 49 and 95 lines for downloading and 32 and 83 lines for uploading.
However, despite the low speed of Internet in the country, Armenia consumes a considerable amount of traffic. As stated in the report of MTS, “the consumption of internet traffic within the 3G network of ‘VivaCell-MTS’ grew by 23, 8 times in 2010 compared to 2009.”
According to ‘VimpelCom’ (brand ‘Beeline’), one base station in Armenia generates about 10 GB of traffic per day, which coincides with the level of consumption in Europe. Moreover, the main capacity falls on the external communication channels.
“Due to the rapid growth of Internet penetration in our country, it is obvious that the new customers, opening Internet, use an average of more traffic,” says Anush Begloyan, the spokeswoman of ‘ArmenTel’ Company (a subsidiary of ‘VimpelCom’).
On the other hand, in her opinion, the volume of traffic is affected also by the fact that there is a lack of “mirror” video and audio servers in Armenia. All this leads to overloading of communication channels.
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At the same time, 2010 became a turning point in terms of the Internet tariffs. If once the unlimited Internet was expensive for many in Armenia, then during 2010 the tariffs decreased by more than 8 times reaching the average level of 8,000 drams (about $ 21) per month for a standard package with throughput speed of up to 1 Mbps, according to the provider Ucom. Nevertheless, compared with European countries, the price of the Internet connection continues to be high enough. So, according to Net Index, the monthly rate in Russia for the same speed is $ 4,16, in the U.S. – $ 6,10, while in European countries from $ 0,68 (Bulgaria) to $ 8,30 (France).
Today, in Armenia there are three providers of wholesale Internet: ‘ArmenTel ‘, ‘GNC-Alfa’ and ‘FiberNet’, owning fiber-optic communication channels coming from Iran and Georgia. According to providers and experts, the Internet in Armenia will go cheaper due to the development of communication channels, as well as to the rivalry in this market. “As in the world, prices for the Internet in Armenia will decrease due to the growth of the number of subscribers and to the development of rivalry”, says Karen Vardanyan.
It is noteworthy, that in 2011, the Commission on Regulation of Public Services of Armenia aims at adopting legal acts addressed to the reduction of the Internet rates and to the development of a necessary infrastructure. This is stated in the structure program for the current year.
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Source: JNews.am