Yerevan/Mediamax/. “VivaCell-MTS” believes the tariff reduction strategy cannot be profitable on the Armenian market either in long-term or in short-term perspective”, the press service of the company told Mediamax commenting on the opinion that “in pursuit of subscribers” the operators sometimes ignore the economic factors.
“The operators who choose the tariff reduction path face the risk of receiving low index of investment recoupment. On such a saturated market as the Armenian is, this strategy cannot be profitable either in long-term or in short-term perspective. The penetration of mobile services into Armenia is high enough, which means that the operators start spending much more means to keep their subscribers in conditions of continuous reduction of profit margin. On the other hand, subscribers’ demand for innovative services dictates the necessity of establishing a reasonable index of investment recoupment,” “VivaCell-MTS” press service stated.
In reply to Mediamax’s question, Orange Armenia Director General Bruno Duthoit said:
“Our company is in a peculiar state, as we have been making investments up till now. We have fulfilled and even exceeded the plans for network coverage and its density. After the launch of commercial activity we have faced huge inflow of subscribers and made additional investments in order to ensure better quality. Today we have over 500 000 active subscribers, 50 000 of whom are internet users. As for investment recoupment, our services and tariffs have been worked out to provide investment recoupment in reasonable period of time.”
Mediamax also asked “ArmenTel” PR Manager Anush Begloyan to answer the same question:
“In last two years our company has been making serious investments in the development of infrastructures of mobile and landline connection. In 2010, we have set additional second and third generation stations to ensure high quality. Today, the quality of Beeline networks meets the highest international requirements. At the same time, the company continues developing the fiber-optic infrastructure, digitizing stations and expanding the geography of Hi Line services. As of 2010, “ArmenTel” took the third place in the list of largest taxpayers, leaving behind other telecommunications companies by the volume of paid taxes. Thus, from companies heading the list, only “ArmenTel” increased the volume of tax payments as compared to 2009. Besides, by the volumes of direct taxes “ArmenTel” leads the list of taxpayers, which, we believe, bears witness to the efficiency of company’s activity. These numbers prove that in 2010 the policy of attracting new subscribers has been carried out taking into consideration the necessity of further development.”
