Jean-Yves Charlier: “We’ll have three investment directions in Armenia”

Today in Yerevan Chief Executive Officer of VimpelCom Jean-Yves Charlier introduced the press to the three directions of investment programs the company plans for Armenia.

Jean-Yves Charlier noted that the company is a long-term investor that wants to expand activity on current markets and become available to everyone.

“The first thing we want to do in Armenia is to expand out 4G/LTE network, offering better coverage and speed. The second investment direction is improvement and increase of speed of broadband internet services. We understand that future belongs to high speed internet and combined services. The third direction concerns our digital strategy. We want to invest in new sectors, such as services attached to messaging or television. These are the three investment directions we discussed with Armenian Prime Minister yesterday,” VimpelCom CEO replied to the question from Itel.am.

In 2015 VimpelCom initiated a strategic program that implies streamlining of portfolio of businesses, optimizing and simplifying of operating model, establishing robust governance, and developing new and innovative digital services. In line with VimpelCom’s transformation strategy, Beeline Armenia is re-engineering its technology infrastructure and streamlining processes.

“Beeline Armenia has been part of the VimpelCom Group since 2006 and we were the first to launch 3G services here. I look forward to accelerating the growth of our business in Armenia and bringing new and innovative digital services to our customers,” Jean-Yves Charlier noted.

Touching upon the possibility of tariff drop, VimpelCom Group CEO said:

“We have a rather high level of satisfaction among our customers in Armenia. This is also true for other countries where we operate. In fact, our company is the leading or second player on those markets. We focus not on the price for services, but on their quality and innovation. This year we invested 17% of our profits worldwide into creation of new services and expansion of the existing ones. That is why 235 million subscribers worldwide trust us.”

Chief Executive Officer of Eurasia Mikhail Gerchuk added that the company’s tariffs for mobile internet and voice services in Armenia are rather low compared to other countries.

“On the other hand, we charge high tariff for calls to other networks in Armenia, but it is established by the regulating agency. These tariffs are several times higher than those in Russia and Kazakhstan. We should think about gradually lowering these tariffs, but at the moment we can’t provide such service with at a loss,” Mikhail Gerchuk said.

During the press conference, the speakers touched upon the new messenger the company developed and is now testing in Italy. They informed that the app will be available in 2017 in Armenia too.