Let’s try to sum up the telecommunications sector in Armenia in 2016. For obvious reasons, it is only possible to carry out the entire summary next spring. However, it is already possible to draw out comparisons between the developments of the past and present year and see the progress.

In this way, according to the data of the Public Services Regulatory Commission of Armenia, as of January 1, 2016, all of Armenia’s urban and rural communities have at least one public mobile network operator. In addition, 4.2% of the communities are provided with 1 operator, 18.1% two operators, and 77.7% have three public mobile network operators.

According to the reports of the operators, the number of mobile service subscribers in Armenia in the third quarter of 2016 has reached 3 486 480, which when compared to the previous quarter, shows an increase of 52 084 subscribers. In 2015 this figure had reached 3 424 236.   

According to the operators, the subscribers are distributed as follows. The increase during the quarter is in brackets:

Vivacell –  2 112 606  (+28 444)
Beeline – 890 507 (+26 945)
Ucom – 483 367 (-3 305).

As of the year-end of 2015, the international IP transit bandwidth streams in the republic makes up 161524 Mbit/s, which is an increase of nearly two times when compared to 2014.

According to Armenia’s Public Services Regulatory Commission, the number of subscribers for internet access services (including 3G and 2G mobile) in 2015 came up to 2 199 771. The figure, compared with the previous year, increased by 5.5%.

The delivery volumes of broadband internet access services have increased, the number of subscribers (including 3G mobile) in 2015 totaled 1520756. Below are the growth dynamics of the number of broadband internet-using subscribers between 2008-2015:

The data from the third quarter of 2016, which has been published by mobile operators and the largest internet providers.

• The number of broadband internet subscriptions has reached 265 480 (+4 835),
• The number of mobile broadband internet subscriptions: 247 140 (+15 442),
• The number of subscribers for internet access through cell phone: 1 891 078 (+229 132).

According to the market data distribution of the main providers, the statistics are as follows:

Beeline:

• Subscriptions: 142 607,
• Mobile broadband subscriptions: 50 113 (broadband internet subscribers, except users who access through a cellular device),
• Number of cell phones connected to the internet: 365 042 (subscribers of mobile data services through cell phones).

Vivacell:

• Mobile broadband subscriptions – 72 368,
• Number of cell phones connected to the internet – 1 259 602.

Ucom:

• Broadband internet subscriptions – 77 954,
• Mobile broadband subscriptions – 124 659,
• Number of cell phones connected to the internet – 266 434.

Rostelecom:

• Broadband internet subscriptions – 35 819.

Interactive:

• Broadband internet subscriptions – 5  212.

Arpinet:

• Broadband internet subscriptions – 2 675.

Web:

• Broadband internet subscriptions – 1 213.  

Samvel Martirosyan

The views expressed in the column are those of the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of Media.am.