From: Justin Burke (JBurke@sorosny.org)
Date: Thu Mar 09 2000 - 11:15:41 EST
Internet business is at embryonic stage in Armenia, says agency
An Armenian news agency has commented on current developments in the
information technology sphere, describing them as "embryonic" with "vague"
future prospects. It described the government's statement that this area is
one of its priorities as pretentious as it is not allocating budget
resources for development. There is also virtually no legislation to
regulate the country's Internet use and only about 10 providers. Even
though there are no official statistics it is known that Internet use is on
the increase and there are an estimated 10,000 email and Internet users -
some of whom have been given email access through a UNDP project. The
following are excerpts from a report by Armenian news agency Noyan Tapan
Yerevan, 3rd March: Prospects for the development of information
technologies have recently been frequently spoken about at very different
levels. The Armenian government says that information technology is one of
the priority aims of the country's economy. However, from where we stand
this statement is a pretentious one, not least because the budget for 2000
does not envisage any expenditure on it.
Proceeding from the country's limited budget funds, it could not be expected
that the state would allocate money for this field, so we can only speak
about the idea for developing information technologies worked out under the
aegis of the government. But nowadays we only have a mature understanding
of the importance of this issue. Armenian Minister of Industry Karen
Chshmarityan said that the government did not intend to provide benefits in
the field of information technology, but it was ready to consider proposals
by interested companies and organizations to develop a common strategy in
this sphere.
Taking into account the importance of the Internet in worldwide
globalization, we tried to look at the real picture of using the network in
Armenia. The problem is that neither government, private nor public
organizations have statistics for this field. Therefore the data which we
have collected can only roughly depict the situation.
Let's start with the fact that there is practically no legislation to
regulate the use of the Internet in Armenia, except for a law of the
Republic of Armenia on communications and attempts by the Ministry of
Communications to control the use of the net.
There are no more than 10 Internet providers. These are Arminco
(www.arminco.com), Infokom (www.armlink.net), ACC (Armenian computer center
- www.acc.am), Web (www.web.am), Infoservice (www.infosack.net), as well as
Yerphi (the Yerevan Institute of Physics - www.yerphi.am), the Armenian
National Academy of Science (www.sci.am) and the UNDP (US International
Development Agency [as received] - www.freenet.am). Some of them do not
pursue any commercial aim. For instance, the UNDP is carrying out a charity
project and allocating free email accounts, which is to be completed in
March this year. There are also a number of regional providers in the towns
of Gyumri (the (?Gitak) center - www.shirak.am), Vanadzor (business center
- www.lori.am), Razdan (www.hrazdan.am) and Stepanakert [in the Nagornyy
Karabakh Republic] (www.nkr.am), but we should note that the latter two are
branches of the Arminco company.
In order to access the global Internet network, providers are mainly using
satellite communications via the teleport of the local operator - Armentel
telecommunications company, whose role in the field of the development of
the net in Armenia will be discussed below. Only a few noncommercial
providers have their own access.
As there are no statistics available, it is difficult to judge the rate of
the increase in the number of Internet users. However, according to data
from some providers, the number is rapidly increasing. For instance, in
1999 the Arminco company registered as many users as it had during the
previous five years. As to the exact number of users, estimates differ.
According to some data, as of today the number of active users does not
exceed 5,000, but if we count email users, then this figure should be
approximately twice as many. According to the estimates of the Armenian
Internet users association, 10,000-12,000 people are using the worldwide
web. The number of hosts amounts to about 400. According to the UNDP's
data, 3,000-4,000 people are using just freenet in the country, but if we
view everyone, even those with non-regular access, as users, then,
according to our estimates the figure will climb to 50,000. The difference
between the number of connections and that of users can be easily
explained, on the one hand, by the citizens' lack of funds, and on the
other hand, by the absence of reliable and fast means of communication, and
all this happens when there is a large diaspora outside the country.
[Passage omitted: Old automatic telephone stations were replaced by new
digital stations, which led to an increase in speed]
However, the Internet business is at an embryonic stage and its development
prospects are rather vague. The imperfect legislation, the incompetence of
the representatives of "responsible departments", corruption and an
unfavourable tax policy are all obstacles.
[Passage omitted: terms for buying Internet connection in Armenia]
Telephone communications in Armenia and the problems related to it in the
sphere of developing information technologies deserve special attention.
The thing is that under the law of the Republic of Armenia on
communications, the Armentel company, at whose disposal communications are
and 90 per cent of whose shares belong to the Greek OTE [Hellenic
Telecommunications Organization] company, has a 15-year monopoly licence on
all types of telecommunications. This monopoly, as any other, of course,
slows down the development of the field under its control.
[passage omitted: quality of Internet access in different districts]
Foreign investment in Armenian Internet companies is also limited by the law
on communications and the monopoly licence of the local operator. But we
should point out that the formation and development in the field of
information technologies are taking place to a great extent thanks to the
assistance of international organizations.
The list of popular local web sites is so long that we cannot publish it in
full. Many of the experts we asked named noyan-tapan.am (Noyan Tapan news
agency) as among the first 150 most well-known sites. The reason for its
popularity is that the information on this site is available in three
languages - in English, Armenian and Russian - and is updated daily. Also
among users' favourites are: www.freenet.am, www.starfish.am,
www.aragil.am, www.aied, www.am, www.download.am, as well as such political
sites as www.president.am, www.gov.am, www.parlament.am and others.
[passage to end omitted: Internet connection prices, Internet cafes, adverts
on the Internet]
[signed] Rita Karapetyan, Noyan Tapan news agency, exclusively for 'Republic
of Armenia' newspaper
Source: Noyan Tapan news agency, Yerevan, in Russian 1445 gmt 03 Mar 00
BBC Mon TCU 080300 km/sa
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