EN
29 June 2010 - 14:45 AMT

ArmenTel to digitize fixed-line telephony in Yerevan in 2011

Olaf Swantee, France Telecom Executive Vice President in charge of Europe and Sourcing, said that Orange Armenia will finalize the second stage of works on increasing 3G+ network capacity this summer. The network is currently being prepared for a new Internet revolution: launch of new 3G modems supporting HSPA 14.4, a technology with a peak bit rate of around 14 Mbps (instead of previous 7 Mbps). Related network roll-out is ongoing to cover all regions of Armenia. New modems and commercial offer will be available in sales already during this summer. According to him, the income from mobile Internet totals 10-15% of the total profit in European representations of Orange, while this figure amounts to 40% in Armenia.

Besides, Orange Armenia has launched High Definition (HD) voice services. Armenia has become the 2nd among 42 states where HD technology was launched by Orange. The piece of Komitas “Lorik” first sounded with HD voice, became the first world concert through HD call. Orange Armenia is the second mobile operator in the world, whose customers can benefit from this innovative service. With its crystal clear, superior sound quality, Orange’s introduction of HD voice is set to herald a new era for mobile communications and a new standard of phone voice quality. HD voice virtually eliminates the distance between callers so that it makes calls sound as if they’re in the same room. If standard mobile calls are realized in the 300-3400Hz bandwidth, HD voice calls are realized in a wider speech bandwidth of 50-7000Hz. Due to this, all nuances of the human voice and low sounds are completely reproduced.

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ArmenTel CJSC announced that it will provide educational institutions of Armenia with access to Russian internet libraries. Negotiations with a number Russian of scientific libraries were successfully finalized. Project launch will be timed to the start of school year.

Moreover, the company has launched a campaign to provide Armenian educational institutions with cheaper internet. From now on, educational institutions in the republic can switch to Hi-Line without connection fee; ADSL modem will also be provided for free. Monthly fee for Hi-Line Unlimited 256/64, 512/128 and1024/256 will make AMD 3900, 6000 and 7500 respectively.

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Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan has honored Dr. Craig R. Barrett, retired CEO/Chairman of the Board of Intel Corp. with 2009 Global Award of the President of the Republic of Armenia for Outstanding Contribution to Humanity through IT. “Information technologies are extremely important for knowledge and data accessibility. The most important capital to develop this field is talent and thinking,” President Sargsyan said. “The main goal of this initiative is to attract youth in IT.”

Thanking for the award, Mr. Barrett noted for his part that information technologies help develop economy, education, medicine and governance.

The Global IT award established by the Armenian President in 2009 annually honors a Laureate who has made extraordinary contributions to humanity through advancing the world of IT. The award consists of a unique Gold Medal, Diploma and trophy evoking Armenia and high tech. The Awarding Program is implemented by the Award Committee and the international Selection Panel appointed by the President of The Republic of Armenia. Synopsys Inc. and its subsidiary Synopsys Armenia CJSC serve as key initiators of the program. Financing for the 2009 program is provided by VivaCell-MTS, a subsidiary of Mobile TeleSystems OJSC through Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.