Regulator refutes the statement of Orange Armenia CEO: MNP won\'t be introduced in July 2013

Yerevan/Mediamax/. Member of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia Samvel Arabajyan refuted the statements according to which it was decided to introduce the mobile number portability (MNP) system in July 2013.

On November 23, Orange Armenia CEO Francis Gelibter said in his interview to Mediamax that \"Orange supports the unconditional decision of Armenian authorities to put in place the Mobile Number Portability in July 2013\".

Samvel Arabajyan stated talking to CivilNet:

\"I don\'t quite understand what the expression \"decision of authorities\" means. As is known, PSRC is the regulatory body of the telecommunication sphere. The Commission didn\'t make any decision on the terms of MNP introduction and didn\'t make any statements on the theme. We have only said that there is an issue in our action plan for this year which should be considered and then the proposal will be made\", said Samvel Arabajyan.

\"As I said in my previous interview, the draft decision is already being discussed. After approving the draft, we\'ll announce the key principles and will fix exact dates for the MNP introduction. And the statement made by Orange Armenia CEO Francis Gelibter according to which the MNP system will be introduced in 2012 doesn\'t comply with reality. The decision on the terms will be made in mid December 2012\", said Arabajyan.

According to him, to shift to MNP system, we should first make amendments in the law \"On Electronic Communication\". The Commission has already presented the draft amendments to the government which approved it and submitting to the National Assembly. In parallel with the approval of the draft law, a number of legal acts regulating technical, financial and other aspects will be adopted.

Samvel Arabajyan said that establishment of the technical system supposing a single number base will be the next step. \"There should be companies with certain professional skills which will be able to introduce the system and operate it. I suppose a tender will be announced as a result of which the winning company will be selected taking into account price/quality ratio\", said Samvel Arabajyan.

\"Even if we want, we can\'t be ready for introduction of the MNP system in dates announced by Francis Gelibter\", said the PSRC member.