Igor Klimko: Due to integrated business management, ArmenTel not only retains, but also strengthens its positions

Interview of Igor Klimko, Director General of ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline trademark), with ArmInfo News Agency

• by Samvel Sarksyan

• Thursday, December 6, 23:49

Despite the analysts’ forecasts that the competition in the Internet market of Armenia will reduce ArmenTel’s share, the company does not weaken its positions. How does the company manage to hold its positions? What new services will the company launch in the near future? 

 

Despite the growing competition, thanks to the complex approach to business management, we manage to offer our customers such proposals which are in the highest demand from the point of view of price and quality, thereby not only retaining but also strengthening our positions. In particular, ArmenTel has completed the construction of the fiberglass rings, thanks to which the data transmission has become more reliable.  We have increased the capacity of external channels and fulfilled a number of other projects that allowed raising the communication stability and reducing the tariffs. Due to the balanced investments and reasonable financial policy, we have managed to offer affordable prices for high quality Internet to the customers throughout Armenia.

 

 

Moreover, the company will go on working at covering the entire territory of the country with the net of high speed Internet-access by using the technologies of the company. Time has shown that we have chosen the right way of development and today our services are the most attractive from the point of view of price and quality. Certainly, we are not going to stop and will continue introducing innovation technologies, extending the net and taking all the needed steps for our customers to use modern Internet services at reasonable prices.

 

 

Now ArmenTel has two competitors in the sphere of voice fixed-line telephony. How strong are the company’s positions in this market? 

 

 

The fixed-line telephony network is a strategic infrastructure, and its modernization is a priority for us. The digital network provides big opportunities for development; therefore, since the first days of our activity, we have focused on digitization of the phone lines. In general, 85% of subscribers of the company in Armenia use digital telephony; in particular, the two biggest cities - Yerevan and Gyumri - are fully digitalized. Armenia is one of the CIS leaders by the level of the fixed-line telephony digitalization. Many services, which are traditionally considered to be prerogative of the mobile communication - Internet-access, communication in the regime of conference, sending and getting SMS - are now available to the ArmenTel fixed-line telephony customers.  By consistent upgrading of the fixed-line telephony and offering the customers modern and solicited services here, as well as in the Internet market, we shall be able not only to preserve but also to consolidate the leading positions.

 

 

Has the company managed to attract private companies of Armenia to cooperation after the free server provision campaign? In general, how is this cooperation going on in terms of development of VPNs?

 

 

The company's corporate customers show quite a big interest in the service of free hosting provision: the customers receive centers of data storage and processing without extra investments, and the server uplink is 100 MB/sec. It is fair to note that ArmenTel is the only company in Armenia that is capable to offer almost the full spectrum of additional communication services to its corporate and private customers, particularly, Hosting, Mail Hosting, Virtual Dedicated Server service, Virtual Private Network. It is profitable for the corporate customers to receive an access to their partners' databases, traffic exchange, web hosting, mail service and traditional communication services from one provider. This universality of ArmenTel plays a positive role, as there are already many large Armenian companies, as well as medium and small enterprises among ArmenTel's partners.

 

 

As regards the development of the service of unification of the geographically-distributed customer offices into a virtual private network, I’d like to say that this service is self-sufficient. To develop it is to improve its components, for instance, to modernize the equipment of data transmission and infrastructure, to increase the speed, etc. ArmenTel CJSC will also shortly launch the "cloud technologies" service. The relevant work with Microsoft Armenia will soon be over and the customers in Armenia will receive an access to the absolutely new and up-to-date service of cloud technologies.

 

 

How do you assess your work in terms of establishment of ArmenTel’s image as a conscientious company? 

 

 

First of all, the “conscientious company” notion includes honest and responsible attitude towards the customers, care for their convenience and satisfaction with the company’s services. The second aspect is conscientious implementation of the license and tax obligations, care for the prosperity and stability of the state, establishment of honest and mutually beneficial business relations with contractors and suppliers. And finally, it is the view of business development prospects in the whole economic space of the country, i.e. contribution to development of new high-tech sectors, establishment of the whole sector of telecommunications as the engine of development of highly effective economy.