By Orange Group and Ucom Brand's preliminary arrangement, "Orange Armenia" will operate for 12 more months. The new owner will decide whether to carry out a rebranding or no, Francis Gelitber, the CEO at Orange Armenia, told during a July 22 press conference. To note, the press conference was convened by Orange Armenia to announce of the launch of negotiations with Ucom to sell the 100% of Orange Armenia's shares.
About a year ago Ucom Company took up the license on providing mobile operator services. The company has even registered the "011" code. In 2013 Ucom acquired the permission to provide 4G tech mobile operator services. In 2016 the company is going to launch high-quality services through LTE. Ucom built an optical-fiber network and has been providing internet, TV and fixed telephony services through one channel. As of June 2015, the company had over 100 thsd subscribers and over 800 employees. Cooperating with the largest global companies, Ucom has managed to gain stable positions on the Armenian telecommunication market.
According to the opinion of independent market observers, with the French company's farewell to Armenia the country's investment position will be significantly harmed.
According to specialists' data, Orange Armenia was in a situation of competitive disadvantage. This resulted in company's low income.
According to the Ranking of Retail and Service Outlets of Armenia by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), at the yearend of 2013 the loss of Orange Armenia totaled 3.8 billion AMD, and the accumulated loss - 12.4 billion AMD. At the yearend of 2013, the ROI and ROE of Orange Armenia amounted to negative 8% and negative 10%, respectively. As regards Ucom, its net profit at the yearend of 2013 amounted to 884.2 million AMD (almost 7-fold year- over-year growth (from the negative level). At the same time, Ucom's ROI and ROE made up 3.4% and 5.4%, respectively. Orange Armenia has been operating on the Armenian market since 5 November 2005, and Ucom was founded in 2007.