July 23, 2005 - 11:41 AMT
HIGH PRICES FOR INTERNET IN ARMENIA SCARE INVESTORS AWAY
APG Enterprise Canadian company does not establish a branch in Armenia due to the high price for Internet, Executive Director Andranik Grigorian told «.am» PanARMENIAN.Net reporter. As result the staff of the new company will be sent to other branches. He noted that the process of establishing a branch in Armenia was a complicated one, since it was rather hard to convince Canadians to set up business in the republic. After meeting with the Armenian IT specialists APG Enterprise representative gave consent to launch business in Armenia. However after carrying out a great deal of work such as high rent and employing of high-paid specialists the company representatives came across another problem - the price for internet 20 times exceeded that in Canada. "For securing normal functioning we needed a channel with 1.5 Mg speed, however, over the exorbitant prices we had to obtain a 1/3 lower one. As result, the company representatives say they will have either to send the staff of 100 specialists to Cyprus, where the organization has recently founded a representation, or to increase the number of employees in Vancouver. Andranik Grigorian considers it to be the fault of the Armenian government, which speaking of the priority of the sphere "impedes its development".