12:59 | 24.06.11 | News | 3929

DigiTec Business Forum and Microsoft Innovation Forum start in Yerevan

Yerevan  /Mediamax/. The fourth annual DigiTec Business Forum and Microsoft Innovation Forum started in Yerevan today.

Addressing the opening of the forum, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsian said that during last 3 years the IT sector has been leading the Armenian economy by growth rates, Mediamax reports.

“If in 2009 only 1.1 million subscribers using mobile internet were registered in Armenia, then according to the results of the first quarter of 2011 this index made 1.7 million. If in late 2009 there were 70 000 broadband internet subscribers in Armenia, as of the first quarter of 2011, their number has reached 240 000. It’s important to note that the growth in the number of internet users is accompanied by the decrease of prices: in 2009, the average price for 1Mbps broadband internet was AMD 234 000, whereas in the first quarter of 2011 it made AMD 55 000, and this tendency continues,” Tigran Sargsian stated.

The PM expressed confidence that such infrastructural preconditions will create favorable conditions for the development of IT.

Director General of ArmenTel (the general sponsor of the forum) Igor Klimko noted that an unprecedented growth in the number of internet users both in Yerevan and in the regions was fixed in Armenia in 2010, “and this allows us to expect that the IT concentration in the capital will be over soon and the companies will start working in other parts of the country too.”

Speaking about the importance of DigiTec Business Forum, Igor Klimko said: “It’s high time for the Armenian business environment to pay more attention to the potential of local IT-companies, as their services and products often do not yield to the level of international companies.”

Director of the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE), Karen Vardanian, said for his part that the forum aims to fill in the gap which still exists between the business community and high-tech companies.

The two-day forum includes “DigiTec Business” exhibition, Microsoft Innovation Forum as well as a series of technological workshops and conferences.

About 30 companies and structures, including 5 Georgian companies and the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development of Georgia, take part in the forum.

The entrance fee is AMD 6000. Visitors’ tickets will take part in a quiz on June 25 at 15:00 pm, and the winners will receive prizes from ArmenTel and Microsoft.

The organizer of the forum is the Union of Information Technology Enterprises of Armenia, general sponsor is ArmenTel and official partner is Microsoft.

Today the forum is open till 18:00pm and on June 25 - from 10:00 till 17:00.