Armenia’s industry watchdog the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) has agreed to allow the country’s mobile network operators (MNOs) – VEON Armenia (Beeline), MTS Armenia (VivaCell-MTS) and Ucom (formerly Orange Armenia) – to cover the whole territory with LTE-A, by issuing a decision for rights to use radio frequencies at: 811MHz-821MHz, 852MHz-862MHz, 1765MHz-1785MHz and 1860MHz-1880MHz.
According to the PSRC decision, the incumbents will be able to ‘compete’ for the radio frequencies, including presenting their development plans and strategies for deploying their networks. Details are sketchy at this time, but the PSRC is likely to set a reserve price on the spectrum noting that ‘within two years, operators will have the opportunity to provide high-quality mobile communications to all the most important highways of Armenia, in particular, from Yerevan to Sevan, Dilijan [and] Jermuk’. The decision also highlights that MNOs will be required to provide high-quality mobile voice/data coverage in all 121 settlements that still have ‘problems’ with accessing services.