See also A development concept according to the Ministry of Communication and Transport

Guidelines for Internet development

A natural question arises - what does the concept say about the development of the Internet; perhaps some principles for the solution of this issue of utmost importance have been worked out? But here, too, we are in for a disappointment. The paper asserts, "The potential for the development of the information and communication technology industry in Armenia is limited by the abuse of the monopoly rights and failure to carry out its obligations of the ArmenTel Company, as well as because of regulatory deficiency." Of course, one thing that the representatives of the industry have succeeded in over the last few years is laying the blame for every problem on ArmenTel. But nothing is said about overcoming the regulatory deficiency, except for the vague hints about creating an independent regulating body and the advisability of relinquishing the state stock in the industry. It remains hard to understand why such regulating tools have not been created thus far, and when one can expect their initiation.

Next, an incoherent list of actions considered necessary "for the improvement of the situation in the field of data transmission services and for the further speedy development of the field" is proposed: a)"To make the right to provide international data transmission and Internet services non-exclusive"; b) "To ensure the correlation of networks and the provision of infrastructures"; and c) "To create in the marzes (provinces) of Armenia centers for public access to the Internet and to organize courses for the acquisition of preliminary knowledge and skills for working with information systems in order to make Internet services accessible to wide layers of the population." And nothing more. It makes sense to say that this is extremely insufficient for a "key" document, in which there is not even a sign of the realization of the necessity of an Internet development policy - such as an elaboration of legislative and regulatory tools, effective collaboration with businesses, etc. (for more on this see the article Internet in Armenia on this website).

Liberalization and the Information Society

Finally, let us refer to two "strategic" formulations from the document. The first is called upon to be the guideline for the liberalization of the domain. It is expected to "create such conditions for the liberalization of the telecommunication market in the Republic of Armenia as will be consonant with the policies implemented in the telecommunication field by the World Trade Organization (WTO), the European Union (EU), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)."

This is an extremely vague, meaningless, and non-committal formulation. It is not clear to what else, in addition to the wireless telephone market - which is mentioned in the document- liberalization will relate. In addition to the policies implemented by the organizations mentioned above, there exists the experience of developed countries, from which Armenia can learn many lessons about the successes and failures of the liberalization of the telecommunication system. The pitiful results of the ignorant privatization carried out in Armenia are obvious today, and the government wishes to lay the blame for them upon ArmenTel. The results of the liberalization initiated from such a starting point and with such a "key document" might become even more pitiful.

The second strategic guideline enunciates the following: "To build an Information Society guided by the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society in Geneva." Here too, there is no explicitness. The Geneva Summit documents cannot become an immediate basis for building an Information Society in a given country, as the drafters of the document, perhaps naively, believe. They are no substitute for national strategies but, on the contrary, presume the development of corresponding strategy and policies (See the article The Geneva World Summit on the Information Society on this website). Meanwhile, in Armenia, as is obvious, no one wants to take on such a headache. Or rather, there is simply no such expertise. Developing a concept is not the simple business it seems to be to some officials. And as long as there is no proper realization of the necessity of working out policies and planning actions in the field of information and communication technologies, further mistakes and a continuing lack of success are guaranteed.