And now folks, better internet... (don't hold your breath)
This past week Kocharian said that "the next task is to liberalize Internet services", the word next referring to the already "liberalized" mobile phone market.
On the surface this is great to hear, since the internet here is slow and expensive. But when you look at what happened with "liberalization" of the mobile phone market, you know your odds of any real improvement are slim. Basically, the Armenian government had a case that ArmenTel had not made the investments it had promised, and services in Armenia were sub-standard, and had a decent case in court to force a change or true liberalization of the mobile phone and internet markets... finally, the huge mistake of granting ArmenTel a monopoly (presumably someone recieved a large payoff) could be partially rectified. Instead, what do they do? They reach a settlement... great, right?
Well the settlement, in which the Armenian government agreed to put aside it's entire case came down to this. ArmenTel agreed to allow ONE more company to enter the mobile phone market. That was it. Nothing about the internet, nothing about truly opening up the mobile market to as many competitors as cared to enter, just an agreement to allow one more mobile operator. An incredibly minor concession, which protected an extremely valuable monopoly. The day this agreement was announced, the Armenian goverment also announced that Karabakh Telecom had won the right to become the second operator - though none of the required bidding process took place, and no explanation was ever given for this. So now, out of a situation where the peoples interest could be served, two massive concessions were made. Were they made for free? Or did officials manage to enrich themselves yet again? Hmmm...
So now we have two mobile operators - and both know that no other company may enter the market. They have little incentive to compete on price therefore, and indeed the incredibly high prices haven't budged much in this extremely poor country. (How people afford a half a million cell phones here I do not know.)
So now I'm looking forward to liberalized internet services! ;-)
On the surface this is great to hear, since the internet here is slow and expensive. But when you look at what happened with "liberalization" of the mobile phone market, you know your odds of any real improvement are slim. Basically, the Armenian government had a case that ArmenTel had not made the investments it had promised, and services in Armenia were sub-standard, and had a decent case in court to force a change or true liberalization of the mobile phone and internet markets... finally, the huge mistake of granting ArmenTel a monopoly (presumably someone recieved a large payoff) could be partially rectified. Instead, what do they do? They reach a settlement... great, right?
Well the settlement, in which the Armenian government agreed to put aside it's entire case came down to this. ArmenTel agreed to allow ONE more company to enter the mobile phone market. That was it. Nothing about the internet, nothing about truly opening up the mobile market to as many competitors as cared to enter, just an agreement to allow one more mobile operator. An incredibly minor concession, which protected an extremely valuable monopoly. The day this agreement was announced, the Armenian goverment also announced that Karabakh Telecom had won the right to become the second operator - though none of the required bidding process took place, and no explanation was ever given for this. So now, out of a situation where the peoples interest could be served, two massive concessions were made. Were they made for free? Or did officials manage to enrich themselves yet again? Hmmm...
So now we have two mobile operators - and both know that no other company may enter the market. They have little incentive to compete on price therefore, and indeed the incredibly high prices haven't budged much in this extremely poor country. (How people afford a half a million cell phones here I do not know.)
So now I'm looking forward to liberalized internet services! ;-)
posted by Raffi K. at 7:32 PM
6 Comments:
it's a pity. from talking to some georgians, (a)dsl costs $25-35 in tbilisi whereas prices start from $100 here although xter.net offer shared dsl for $60 / month plus charges for traffic but the speed is not guaranteed, i think.
even so, the situation is not good and it's an issue where everyone of whatever political persuasion should put pressure on the government to sort out. plain and simple. incidentally, i assume this is why there are so many internet cafes in yerevan. everyone on the net i'm speaking to in tbilisi has (a)dsl at home.
These are just basic things that are available in terms of technology - yet red tape is meaning that Armenia is simply backwards in this sphere. It is just ridiculous
I don't know what the bandwidth of the DSL in Tblisi is, but what xternet is offering is NOT high speed. You might assume that DSL means high speed, since there is no point in getting it otherwise in the US, but in Armenia it is almost always less bandwidth than a 56kbs modem. What you do gain though is guaranteed speed - even 12kps is much better than 56kbs if you are sharing the 56 with dozens of others.
Harmick, it's not red tape - it's corruption...
Just out of curiosity, what does it cost per hour to use the Internet at an Internet Cafe in Yerevan?
and what's the speed like? If it's anything like that "high speed" 56k DSL, then I give up. ha ha !
Usually between 50 cents to a dollar per hour, and speeds vary. Night time rates are cheaper.
There are a few places that have "high speed", and they charge according to incoming/outgoing traffic.
I hope it comes soon! If Armenia were to open its internet connectivity the regions would see a boom in business. As it is, it is impossible to use the internet for much more than checking your email. With a solid internet connection, VoIP will be a reality for all businesses.
Anyway to move this quickly? I wish people would see it as a real need
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