Armenia’s Main Cellphone Network Paralyzed

[MosJan]

Armenia’s Main Cellphone Network Paralyzed

 

YEREVAN (RFE/RL)--Armenia’s Greek-owned telecommunications monopoly claimed on Monday to have so far failed to fully determine the cause of an almost three-week mysterious paralysis of its wireless network which has left hundreds of thousands of mobile phone users fuming.

 

The Armenian government, meanwhile, appeared to be losing patience with ArmenTel’s inability to remedy the situation quickly, with officials speaking of “sanctions” that could be imposed on the deeply unpopular operator.

 

The network’s sudden collapse began on July 1, coinciding with the long-awaited launch of Armenia’s second wireless system, VivaCell. ArmenTel promptly flew in telecom engineers from Greece and Germany to inspect its facilities but has still not provided a full and clear explanation for the breakdown.

 

ArmenTel’s Thursday statement cited a “flurry of phone calls” which it said followed a steep reduction of phone tariffs effective from July 1 and put the network under greater strain. The statement urged the increasingly furious subscribers to use their handsets more sparingly.

 

Critics say ArmenTel, which is owned by Greece’s OTE telecom giant, is paying the price of its gross underinvestment in mobile telephony that has left Armenia lagging behind neighboring Azerbaijan and Georgia where the service has been more affordable and of higher quality.

 

The Armenian government demanded official explanations from ArmenTel earlier this month and assured the public that everything is done to get the cellphone back into shape. Transport and Communications Minister Andranik Manukian announced on Thursday that the problem will be solved within days.

 

“It’s hard for me to speak about this,” Manukian said on Monday with a sigh. “I am now in an awkward situation. I [wrongly] stated that the situation improved and the crisis is coming to an end.”

 

The quality of mobile phone service provided by ArmenTel left much to be desired even before the unprecedented network failure. It was the main reason why the government decided to partly open the sector to competition last year.

 

Exclusive rights to all forms of telecommunication were a key term of ArmenTel’s 1998 sale to OTE, one of Europe’s largest telecom firms. Some former government officials who helped to negotiate the $200 million deal later admitted that granting the Greeks the monopoly was a serious mistake.

[MosJan]

ARMENTEL WILL COMPENSATE INCONVENIENCE TO SUBSCRIBERS

 

19.07.2005 04:14

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ArmenTel telephone company will compensate inconvenience to subscribers due to failure of the mobile communication network, the company Press Service told .am edition of PanARMENIAN.Net. According to the source, ArmenTel intends to provide a discount of 50% to Sim-card users and a conversation bonus of 1 thousand drams to Easy-card subscribers for the inconvenience. It should also reminded that lately ArmenTel company reported the mobile communication network was fixed, however asked subscribers not to overburden the network with unnecessary talks, as it is being tested. At the moment company specialists monitor the network to avoid problems and expose the causes of the failure.

 

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[MosJan]

ARMENTEL ANNOUNCES NEW TARIFF

 

19.07.2005 04:12

 

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ ArmenTel telephone company has announced introducing new tariff form corporate subscribers of the mobile network, the company Press Service told .am edition of PanARMENIAN.Net. The Corporate tariff plan provides for cooperation with juridical persons, who own 5 and more telephone lines of Sim-card packages. According to the new tariff plan, one-minute conversation in the corporate network will cost 27 drams, a call to the ArmenTel GSM common network – 35, just the same as a call to VivaCell network or the fixed telephone network, while SMS is 16 drams. The prepayment for the tariff plan in question makes 18 thousand drams, activation of a Sim-card with activation of some services – 2400 drams, switching roaming services – 99 thousand drams. The prices are indicated without value added tax.

 

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[MosJan]

ArmenTel Hell: Subscribers get no service, no satisfaction from mobile phone provider

 

By Anush Babajanyan

ArmeniaNow reporter

 

 

http://armenianow.com/files/pub/1151_01.jpg

 

 

Cell-ution?

Cell-ution?

For nearly a month ArmenTel, the biggest telecommunication provider in Armenia (and until July, the only provider), has left its subscribers unable to make phone calls for reasons unknown even to ArmenTel itself.

 

Armenian Minister of Transport and Communications Andranik Manukyan has demanded that ArmenTel fix the problem as soon as possible. On July 14, Manukyan assured the public that the ArmenTel problem would be settled by the next day. The next day was two weeks ago, and nothing has changed.

 

ArmenTel has invited specialists from abroad but say they still haven’t determined the causes of the breakdown.

 

Meanwhile the provider – for which users pay from 43 to 45 drams (about 10 cents) per minute – is asking its customers to not even try to use its service.

 

“Every attempted call that doesn’t have a real need just reduces the possibility for a successful call of other users and at the end of all users,” said a statement from the company.

 

Predictably, the message did not sit well with subscribers.

 

“I think it’s outrageous that ArmenTel officials asked us not to try to call several times,” says Marina Gabrielyan, 37, an ArmenTel user. “How can we not try if we need to reach someone?”

 

The breakdown of the ArmenTel connection coincided with the launching of VivaCell, the second mobile operator, on July 1. ArmenTel and K-Telecom, the owner of VivaCell, share one frequency, which is believed to be the reason for the poor service.

 

A July 15 press release on the ArmenTel website, however, states that “the anticipated increase of traffic due to the launch of the new operator was not enough to cause the problem.”

 

Whether VivaCell affected ArmenTel’s connection or not, it certainly affected its prices. After VivaCell offered prices cheaper than ArmenTel, the latter responded with a summer promotion and is now cheaper than VivaCell. For example, the prices for the postpaid cards are 43.20 AMD/min (9 cents) for ArmenTel, and 44-55 AMD/min (10-12 cents) for VivaCell.

 

The sharp decrease of ArmenTel prices resulted in an increase of subscribers.

 

“Maybe if ArmenTel wouldn’t have lowered prices so fast it wouldn’t have so many new subscribers, whom it obviously can’t afford,” says Narine Grigoryan, 46, an ArmenTel user, “that’s why we can’t call anywhere.”

 

Although a little more expensive, VivaCell provides better connection. (But, while Armentel -- when it works -- reaches about 80 percent of Armenia, VivaCell is restricted mostly to areas close to Yerevan.)

 

“I couldn’t wait for the ArmenTel connection to settle,” says Ruben Nazaryan, 31, an entrepreneur, “so I changed my mobile provider several days ago. It’s much better now.”

 

There have constantly been complaints by ArmenTel users about the quality of the connection, the lack of prepaid cards and their price. This mainly concerned the subscribers, but not so much the government or ArmenTel. While prepaid cards from ArmenTel are easier to buy now, and the prices are lower, the connection is so bad that it worries now both ArmenTel and the government, which controls 10% of ArmenTel.

 

In 1997, the Greek company Hellenic Telecommunications Organization SA (OTE) bought 90% of ArmenTel.

 

“This privatization will raise interest and trust in Armenia. This is the biggest one so far and it was done professionally,” said a government official at the time.

 

Now, however, not even government officials seem capable of assuring that the service itself be “done professionally”.

[Sip]

It's not much better here either. Just wait for something big like a typical natural disaster to happen (like an earth quake, flood, etc) and the systems we have here will go down in a second as soon as everyone picks up their phone.

[Mica]

Armentel sucks!!VIVA-Cell 4eva!!!I got an Alo card and it rocks!!!!!!....