Comments on: 2006 - Year of the Cell Phone http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/ A blog about Armenia: business, politics, the future and good lavash Thu, 20 Nov 2008 11:23:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=1.5 by: Harmick http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-236927 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 04:52:32 -0800 http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-236927 Voice over IP , I think is a no, as today Armentel announces it is disconnecting all such companies operating in Armenia, claiming they are "stealing money from its pocket" I Hope this isn't the first of many restrictions that the new owners of Armentel will impose. I will be writing a post on this situation so wont go on too much :) Voice over IP , I think is a no, as today Armentel announces it is disconnecting all such companies operating in Armenia, claiming they are “stealing money from its pocket”

I Hope this isn’t the first of many restrictions that the new owners of Armentel will impose.

I will be writing a post on this situation so wont go on too much :)

]]> by: Burnell http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237143 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 05:23:14 -0800 http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237143 Harmick, yes, I saw the news tonight with the lovely Armentel Director discussing the "internet phones". However, VoIP is different and easily used. I use it for all of my communication with Europe and America. It works well provided the connection exists. Armentel will not be able to separate VoIP traffic and internet traffic while it ends its internet monopoly. Just think: Armenia is blanketed in wifi style connections (aka radio modems) that are easily connected to. The revenue stream is amazing as the demand is there. The overall economic impact would be tremendous!!! Harmick, yes, I saw the news tonight with the lovely Armentel Director discussing the “internet phones”. However, VoIP is different and easily used. I use it for all of my communication with Europe and America. It works well provided the connection exists. Armentel will not be able to separate VoIP traffic and internet traffic while it ends its internet monopoly.

Just think: Armenia is blanketed in wifi style connections (aka radio modems) that are easily connected to. The revenue stream is amazing as the demand is there. The overall economic impact would be tremendous!!!

]]> by: Harmick http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237191 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 05:33:31 -0800 http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237191 You are correct, I didnt think it through properly I assumed you meant VoIP in terms of connections via phones. But you are correct, short of blocking ports, ( censorship then i guess ) Voip is virtually unstoppable. You have almost written the text of my next post :) You are correct, I didnt think it through properly I assumed you meant VoIP in terms of connections via phones. But you are correct, short of blocking ports, ( censorship then i guess ) Voip is virtually unstoppable. You have almost written the text of my next post :)

]]> by: Onnik Krikorian http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237469 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 09:39:34 -0800 http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237469 I'm kind of interested. Azerbaijan and Georgia reached 2 million and 1 million cellphones respectively long ago, and Georgia is apparently third in leading the way in terms of 3G technologies in the former Soviet space. See <a href="http://www.today.az/news/society/19067.html" rel="nofollow">here</a> and <a href="http://oneworld.blogsome.com/2005/08/12/3g-gsm-services-in-georgia/" rel="nofollow">here</a>. Yet, has the explosion of cellphones there contributed to significant rural expansion or do things like irrigation, fertile soil, roads etc mean more. The MCC with its MCA funding seem to think so. Sure, if you have tourists an businesses in the region, cellphones are useful, but my understanding is that mobile phones took off for one main reason only in the former Soviet space and you explain that so well above. That is, the landlines sucked and prices were cheap. Okay, so that's as it is, but I don't think that more investment is going to occur in the regions unless they're actually something to invest in with cheap transit routes out of the country. Tax incentives would also make a huge difference, although that doesn't seem to have done much for Gyumri after the earthquake. Still, the internet can only get better, but I wouldn't expect the country to get hi-tech so quickly. Even in Georgia where ADSL costs $35/month, ADSL still costs $200/month in Batumi. Besides, after all the elation over OTE selling out, another story got hidden away in there. Azerbaijan and Armenia almost got cut off from the internet entirely because of outstanding debts to the tune of $1.7million. See <a href="http://www.panarmenian.net/news/eng/?nid=20649" rel="nofollow">here</a>. In 2002 I visited Javakheti in Georgia and saw almost every Armenian even in Georgia's poorest region, including pensioners, with mobile phones. However, don't think it made any difference to them in terms of economic development. We can, but hope, I suppose, and while communication with the regions is important, there are far more serious problems that need to be overcome. Still, as Armenia is a small country, roads and proper voice communication can help, but what about the rest? I’m kind of interested. Azerbaijan and Georgia reached 2 million and 1 million cellphones respectively long ago, and Georgia is apparently third in leading the way in terms of 3G technologies in the former Soviet space.

See here and here.

Yet, has the explosion of cellphones there contributed to significant rural expansion or do things like irrigation, fertile soil, roads etc mean more. The MCC with its MCA funding seem to think so.

Sure, if you have tourists an businesses in the region, cellphones are useful, but my understanding is that mobile phones took off for one main reason only in the former Soviet space and you explain that so well above.

That is, the landlines sucked and prices were cheap. Okay, so that’s as it is, but I don’t think that more investment is going to occur in the regions unless they’re actually something to invest in with cheap transit routes out of the country.

Tax incentives would also make a huge difference, although that doesn’t seem to have done much for Gyumri after the earthquake.

Still, the internet can only get better, but I wouldn’t expect the country to get hi-tech so quickly. Even in Georgia where ADSL costs $35/month, ADSL still costs $200/month in Batumi.

Besides, after all the elation over OTE selling out, another story got hidden away in there. Azerbaijan and Armenia almost got cut off from the internet entirely because of outstanding debts to the tune of $1.7million.

See here.

In 2002 I visited Javakheti in Georgia and saw almost every Armenian even in Georgia’s poorest region, including pensioners, with mobile phones. However, don’t think it made any difference to them in terms of economic development.

We can, but hope, I suppose, and while communication with the regions is important, there are far more serious problems that need to be overcome. Still, as Armenia is a small country, roads and proper voice communication can help, but what about the rest?

]]> by: Burnell http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237763 Wed, 17 Jan 2007 17:38:44 -0800 http://www.blogrel.com/2007/01/17/2006-year-of-the-cell-phone/#comment-237763 I feel strongly that communication is the basis for economic expansion especially for a country in Armenia's state which is poor in natural resources, is land locked and has two neighbors that do not care for it. Armenia will never be a huge producer of anything unless it is intangible. That "intangible" is knowledge and information and I hope that Armenians, especially in the rural areas of the east, will embrace sharing information as that is a first step in building more intrinsic knowledge in the society. Cell phones do not bring knowledge but they bring efficiency. In turn the efficiency builds wealth and that wealth is spent on education and more capacity to share information. Will we see wifi-max this year? Probably, only in my dreams. However, with increased internet competition, we should again see efficiencies. In closing, I pray for reasonable broadband. Currently, my business incurs over $250 a month in internet charges in the three most rural areas of the country. It would be half that in Yerevan but just to get service in most places is a base fee of $70. What I would pay for portable, satellite internet that is always on and not subject to power outages in the marzes surrounding Yerevan. I feel strongly that communication is the basis for economic expansion especially for a country in Armenia’s state which is poor in natural resources, is land locked and has two neighbors that do not care for it. Armenia will never be a huge producer of anything unless it is intangible. That “intangible” is knowledge and information and I hope that Armenians, especially in the rural areas of the east, will embrace sharing information as that is a first step in building more intrinsic knowledge in the society.

Cell phones do not bring knowledge but they bring efficiency. In turn the efficiency builds wealth and that wealth is spent on education and more capacity to share information. Will we see wifi-max this year? Probably, only in my dreams. However, with increased internet competition, we should again see efficiencies.

In closing, I pray for reasonable broadband. Currently, my business incurs over $250 a month in internet charges in the three most rural areas of the country. It would be half that in Yerevan but just to get service in most places is a base fee of $70. What I would pay for portable, satellite internet that is always on and not subject to power outages in the marzes surrounding Yerevan.

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