Armenian telecom services provider VivaCell-MTS, 80%-owned by Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS), has announced the acquisition of the assets of rival altnet Armenian Datacom Company (ADC) via an open auction held in accordance with the provisions set by the Republic of Armenia Law on Bankruptcy. A statement released by VivaCell-MTS confirmed: ‘The present subscribers of ADC will be offered to continue using the services provided by the Company on the current terms and conditions, and the uninterrupted provision of the services will be ensured. As soon as the process of asset acquisition is over, VivaCell-MTS will significantly enlarge the scope of the services provided, as well as will implement continuous quality improvement.’ It is understood that the decision to buy out the smaller rival is driven by its need to expand the capacity of its telecommunication network, which will also help improve the quality of the services provided via VivaCell-MTS’ mobile network infrastructure.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, ADC was formed as an Armenian-Norwegian joint venture in April 2006, and was joined by Dubai-based Delta Partners in January 2009. It has deployed an IP/MPLS fibre-optic network spanning central Yerevan and its suburbs, constructing an independent and redundant, wholly fibre-optic network, using a network topology based on interconnection of ring-type core highways. ADC claims the network is capable of maximum transmission speeds of 200Gbps in the network core. In addition to the backbone, switching technology from equipment vendor Alcatel-Lucent has been used, enabling IP/MPLS transmission features. The company offers a range of services including internet access, local area network (LAN) access, virtual leased lines (VLL) services, VPLS and wide area networking (WAN) for companies.