Receiving cell-phone messages in Russian has become quite common in Armenia. The recent message was sent by Euroset, one of the largest chains of retail stores in Russia.
The company sells mobile phones and mobile services and already has branches in 11 countries (Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Estonia, Lithuania, Kazakhstan, etc.) and is the first Russian company that entered the Armenian market. The yearly income of “Euroset” was 4.62 billion dollars in 2006.
The “Euroset” stores can be found in all corners of Russia. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the company doesn’t save money for advertisements and any tendency for economic development of Russia can be noticed in Armenia after a while. “Euroset” has already opened two stores in Yerevan and plans to open 28 more by the end of the year. President of “Euroset” Eldar Razroyev had this to say about the entrance of this company, which has a 10-year history.
“Our Armenian consumers will now see a variety of mobile phones and digital technological appliances at the low prices of the company. As in other countries, “Euroset” will offer Armenian consumers high-quality customer service corresponding to high standards.” However, for the time being, “Euroset” doesn’t meet those standards. The prices for mobile phones in the markets aren’t cheaper and when you ask for information about the phones from the store clerks, they ask you to wait so they can check and then reply.
Besides retail trade on mobile phones, “Euroset” also works with the large Russian mobile phone operators. For example, the company helps make the payments for the services provided by “MTC”, “Beeline” and “MegaPhone”. Is it possible for “Euroset” to work with Armenia? The press department of “ArmenTel” told “168 Hours” that “ArmenTel” plans to work with “Euroset”. In addition, the mobile phone operator based in Armenia is happy that its “compatriot” has arrived in Armenia. The “Euroset” company is the largest mobile phone and service dealer in Russia and “ArmenTel” welcomes the entrance of such a company in the Armenian market,” as mentioned by the company correspondents. Perhaps the entrance of “Euroset” in the Armenian market is due to the fact that the current owner of “ArmenTel” is the Russian “VimpelCom” company, which works with “Euroset” in Russia. “ArmenTel” denied this.
In some way, the communications field in Armenia is starting to look like the energy sector. In other words, the major parts of these two sectors belong to the Russians. First, the Russian “Comstar” company, which has large shareholdings at “MTC”, purchased one of the largest Internet Service Providers of Armenia. After a couple of days, “VimpelCom” became the new owner of “ArmenTel”. Now, in order to “put everything in place”, it was necessary to have a company which would add its services to the sector. This all started just a couple of days after Russian President Vladimir Putin “reproached” Armenian President Kocharyan with the fact that Russian capital is not largely invested in Armenia. However, this last Russian capital investment will simply have a negative influence on many people’s affordability, mainly the people who import mobile phones to Armenia. “Euroset” is the official partner of companies such as LG, Motorola, Samsung, Siemens, SonyEricsson and others in Russia. It’s clear that the company conducted research on the Armenian mobile phone market, its possibilities and its competitors before making the investment. If “Euroset” has already entered the market, either it has made an agreement with the competitors, or the company is certain that it will compete with them with its low pricing policy.