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Our history
in brief...
Who is Karabakh Telecom? How did this company start
developing the communication sector in Nagorno Karabakh ?1
Why?
When? Many questions are still unclear to many, and accordingly
below is a brief history in answering the aforementioned questions.
Negotiations started towards the beginning of 2001
between Mr. Pierre M. Fattouch, our Chairman, and Nagorno Karabakh authorities, and
it was crowned by a ''Contract'' between us and Nagorno Karabakh
authorities on April 2001 that led to a license to carry
out activities in the field of telecommunication on 19 November
2001, provided by the Nagorno Karabakh Ministry of Economic and
Infrastructure Reforms.
All field studies and planning
that were performed since January 2001 lead to the creation of
new Siemens GSM 900 network fully interconnected with the old
analogue fixed telephony network (PSTN) that was transferred to us by
Nagorno Karabakh authorities in a very deteriorated state, knowing
that such a network besides being 20 to 30 years old, has gone
through a severe war that destroyed or mutated major parts of
it.
The new equipment started arriving to
Nagorno Karabakh towards the end of November 20012, and as a record, we have installed
and commissioned the GSM network with its related BTS sites all over
the territory, and interconnected with the old analogue fixed
telephony system, in two months time, and the operation went live on
February 2002 under the name of Karabakh Telecom providing GSM (postpaid
and prepaid) services and fixed telephony
services.
With
respect to Internet, on October 2002, Karabakh Telecom launched its Internet
services KTSurf in the capital Stepanakert
and on January 2003 throughout all the regions, and by April 2003
Karabakh Telecom
introduced the Internet cafe concept as a new
product to the NK
market.
1 As per the official
records of January 2002 consensus, Nagorno Karabakh has 144,336
inhabitants, where 56,782 are in the capital Stepanakert. Nagorno Karabakh`s northern and
eastern borders are with Azerbaijan, southern border is with Iran
and western border is with Armenia.
2 All equipment arrived
at Yerevan International Airport, and were transported by
trucks to Nagorno Karabakh on a mountainous road that is 350Km long,
being the only linking road of Nagorno Karabakh with the outside
world.
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