Armenia’s Anti-Trust Agency fines ArmenTel 30 million drams; telecom says will appeal in court

YEREVAN, October 19. / ARKA /. Armenia’s State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) has ruled today to fine ArmenTel telecom 30 million drams for unfair competition.

The decision was taken on a complaint by Alias ltd. that had subscribed to the company’s "Exclusive Business" tariff plan. The SCPEC said according to information booklet of ArmenTel, available on its official website, the cost per one megabyte of Internet within the tariff plan is 49 drams. 

It said the employees of Alias subscribed to the tariff plan being sure that by connecting to it they would automatically use GPRS-Internet services at 49 drams rate, however, later it emerged they were charged 90 drams per one megabyte of Internet.

In an explanation sent to SCPEC ArmenTel argued that the consumers paid at a higher rate because they were charged as subscribers to tariff plan "Internet for all", and for shifting to "Exclusive Business" plan they were to apply additional settings.

"Thus, the company misled the subscribers ... We found the behavior of ArmenTel as unfair competition " SCPEC chairman Artak Shaboyan said at the meeting.

A spokeswoman for ArmenTel, Anush Begloyan, told ARKA that these allegations were unfounded saying also the company will appeal the decision at court.

"We believe this decision of SCPEC is unfounded because the consumer was notified of the action needed to run the service. We have provided all the information to SCPEC, and we believe that we have met all our commitments," she said.

ArmenTel is a 100 percent subsidiary of VimpelCom"(trading as Beeline), providing fixed and mobile communications, as well as high-speed Internet access. -0-