Monday, August 26, 2002

If your wondering why I have not been logging as often or answer my e-mails as quick as I use to, it�s because ARMENIAN HISTORY HAS REPEATED ITSELF IN ARTSAKH.

At the Diaspora conference I made contact with an investment group who are interested in working with me to develop the information technology (IT) field here in Artsakh.

We feel that being a land-locked country, the best suited industry is IT. It has no boarders and can employ many people with decent paying jobs.

I�ve been working for the last few months to find out about getting us a license to set up a high-speed two-way satellite connection and have recently learned that as of Friday, it would be of no use to apply for such a license as we would only get the run around and empty promises.

Mediamax�s article dated 13 Feb 2002 reads: �According to Nagorno Karabakh Prime Minister Arnold Abrahamian, by decision of the Karabakh Government, `Karabakh Telecom` has been issued a license for telecommunication activities for a period of 30 years and has also been deprived of the right to monopoly in this sphere.�

Though the article is inaccurate as to Arnold Abrahamian being the Prime Minister, which he is not (he is the former Minister of Economy and presently an advisor to the Prime Minister), it clearly sates that `Karabakh Telecom` has no monopoly. The President himself has even stated this, assuring us that we would not make the same mistake as Armenia did with ArmenTel.

During my investigating licensing, I found out that the closed joint-stock company `Karabagh-Telecom`, which functions under the aegis of the famous Lebanese company TMF, has been issued a license by the Minister of Economy which has a condition that restricts the NKR government from issuing any other telecommunication licenses, thus creating a monopoly. Yes, history has repeated itself and yes, as of today, TMF has a monopoly on telecommunication in Artsakh just like ArmenTel does in Armenia.

We presently have two internet providers in Artsakh who were the pioneers to bring internet to Artsakh. They have to renew their licenses within the next 10 months, but have so far have been given the run around by the government. My provider has told me during one of my complaint calls about the service being down again that I should go talk to the President and tell him to get his act together and correct this major mistake so my provider can give me reliable service with a satellite connection instead of being dependent on ArmenTel�s unreliable connection.

I guess the two-hour meeting I need to have with the President to discuss issues is going to take a little longer than what I had planned.

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