| Second mobile operator
launched in Armenia YEREVAN, July 2 (AFP) -
Armenia's second mobile communications operator began working in the south Caucasian state
Friday, under the Vivacell trademark.
Vivacell is owned by a Lebanon-based holding, whose major shareholder, Pierre Fatouche,
also owns Karabakh-Telecom, a mobile operator in Azerbaijan's breakaway enclave of Nagorno
Karabakh -- a largely Armenian-populated region which won its de facto independence in a
1993-1994 war.
According to the company's director Ralf Erekyan, Vivacell -- which invested over 75
million dollars to set up a network capable of servicing 300,000 clients -- would first
cover Yerevan and certain other regions and complete its coverage over the entire country
by the end of the year.
Armenia held a tender for the second mobile operator in November, after Yerevan stripped
the mobile monopoly from ArmeniTel, 90 percent owned by Greece's OTE. |
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