Orange Armenia CEO Assesses Cost of MNP

Francis Gelibter, the chief executive officer of Orange Armenia, says that the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP) in the country will cost his company 2% of its total annual turnover. In FY 2012, the cellco booked total revenue of around AMD21 billion (USD51 million). In a meeting with journalists this week, Mr Gelibter said that the amendments to Armenia’s law ‘On Telecommunications’, which came into force on 15 June and call for MNP to be in place in 2014, will be free and as such, costs will have to be absorbed by local carriers which will also have to invest in new accounting and billing systems to cater for a new MNP regime. ‘Rates will not rise, there is no fear in this regard,’ he said.