Telephone
Armenia has 2.8 million subscribers in total, a 36% penetration rate.
| Rank | Operator | Technology | Subscribers |
Ownership |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viva Cell MTS | GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA, LTE | 1,750,000 (June 2011)
1,800,000 (March 2012) |
MTS (100%) |
| 2 | Beeline | GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA | 550,000 (June 2011)
600,000 (March 2012) |
VimpelCom (90%). Armenian Government (10%) |
| 3 | Orange | GSM, GPRS, EDGE, UMTS, HSDPA | 330,000 (June 2011)
400,000 (March 2012) |
Subsidiary of France Télécom (100%) |
There are three telephone companies in Armenia: Beeline, which holds all fixed-line and 30% of cellular networks, Viva Cell MTS, which holds 70% of cellular networks, and Orange. Beeline has around 550,000 mobile subscribers, and Viva Cell MTS has around 1,750,000, and Orange has around 250,000. At the moment, many of these companies are in the process of modernising and expanding their coverage of the country. Viva Cell MTS and Beeline are two Russian giants with strong coverage in Armenia. Orange is a newcomer to Armenia. Orange is possibly the smallest of three companies but it is currently investing millions of dollars expanding its coverage.
3G service was announced by Beeline in the summer of 2008. Viva Cell MTS announced theirs in October 2008. Both Viva Cell MTS and Beeline claim to cover 90% of the Armenian population with 2G services and up to 60% with their 3G services. Orange currently has the smallest 3G coverage but it is rapidly growing. The 2G coverage of Orange is of around 70% of the population, but it is also rapidly growing.
Read more about this topic: Internet In Armenia
Famous quotes containing the word telephone:
“Women who marry early are often overly enamored of the kind of man who looks great in wedding pictures and passes the maid of honor his telephone number.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1952)
“It’s a hard feeling when everyone’s in a hurry to talk to somebody else, but not to talk to you. Sometimes you get a feeling of need to talk to somebody. Somebody who wants to listen to you other than “Why didn’t you get me the right number?””
—Heather Lamb, U.S. telephone operator. As quoted in Working, book 2, by Studs Terkel (1973)
“But even in a telephone booth
evil can seep out of the receiver
and we must cover it with a mattress,
and then tear it from its roots
and bury it,
bury it.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)