Andranik Manukyan, RA Minister of Transport and Communications, put in a lot of effort to keep his position because he still has a lot to do in the ministry.
First of all, it is still a question as to from which country the second Internet service provider “Fibernet” company (Manukyan has a share in “FiberNet”) is going to receive a connection. According to our sources, Turkey is directly impeding the promises made by Manukyan to provide inexpensive Internet service by not wishing to provide Internet to Armenia through its territory. In order for Armenia to have Internet, the only thing left for “FiberNet” to do is to use the road passing through Ukraine, which may have an impact on service prices. The second job left undone by Andranik Manukyan is much more than “Fibernet”, which is getting mixed up in the work of the television stations. It is possible that soon some television station owners will become the puppets on Manukyan’s string. A lot depends on the “generosity” of this man. Not too long ago there were rumors flying around that soon all television stations were going to shut down and there were only going to be four channels. It turns out that these rumors are not that far from reality. It’s already a political decision to give somebody a television channel in Armenia. With this logic, they punish someone by depriving him of a channel and reward the other by making him the owner of the same channel. The “A1plus” television station has been fighting to get back its frequency, but according to Grigor Amalyan, the National Committee on Television/Radio always reasons that they will give the frequency as soon as they get it. In the age of advanced technologies, our Ministry of Transport and Communications has begun the program called “Digital Broadcasting”, and it’s hard to say when it will succeed, but it is already left behind a couple of decades. The logic of this program is that from now on the present television stations of Armenia must shift to the digital version of information transmission. The world has gone through this stage that we are going through now and the rest of the countries of the world are working with IP technologies. This means having high-quality television through Internet connection. In case Armenia shifts to this technology, we may have nearly 200-300 high-quality television stations, and that means the end to Grigor Amalyan’s committee. However, the issue hasn’t been looked into very deeply, and he has only thought about one stage which, finally, that it may become somebody’s business. The “Council of Support for Development of Information Technologies” received and made its observations regarding the above-mentioned program. Executive secretary of the council, Armen Grigoryan, told “168 Hours” what proposals they made regarding the mentioned program.
“IP television gives the private television station an opportunity, if, of course, it can broadcast the programs and films. The Russian ORT television channel also has its Internet television. The UEFA site also has its Internet television. This is the road that we are all forced to pass. Soon we will have nothing, only a computer turned on to the network of the rest of the world, and we can watch the Armenian H1 or any other foreign channel when we want. Today many people watch different channels by the satellite connection. They are digital technologies and are already considered the past phase. All of the local Armenian television stations transfer information through analogous technologies. Based on the plans of the government, it is forced to make the transition to digital television in 1-2 years. A new problem comes up: you have to force people to buy a new television set so that they will be able to receive the digital information. The current television sets in Armenia can only receive analogous information. There is one small device in the world, ranging from 20-25 dollars, which you can turn on the television and watch digital channels.”
However, here is where we face the social issue: how are people going to be able to buy that device? Is the state going to pay for the device for the needy, or is it going to distribute them free of charge? They suggest that the program, as a social package, will digitize four television stations. Which four? How are they going to decide? There are time limits for the fading away of the analogous television stations, because there is an issue concerning frequencies. We can put up to eight television stations in its frequency in the case of digitizing television channels. Let’s say, H1 loses its domain. It can use up to eight television channels by the same frequency. So, the digital broadcast of information in Armenia allows the increase of television channels, and the current 20 channels may become 80 and more. It is still unclear as to how much time we will give the rest of the channels that are not going to be digitalized with state means. The ministry has mentioned that they may deprive the television channel of its license within 2 years of not shifting from analog to digital.
“We asked to prolong the time up to 4-5 years. During the transition, you have to give time to the private stations because the transition to the new technology requires a lot of investment. One of our questions was how they are going to decide which channels will pay. The Public Radio and Television are clear. What is going to be the decision for the remaining three private television stations? There is an EU-elaborated document on digitalization, and we have proposed organizing the process corresponding to this document,” says Armen Grigoryan. Nothing is mentioned about the IP television in the program. After all, that would liberate the field and the citizen would not be dependent on Amalyan or Manukyan for organizing his television activities. It is evident that Internet television is not in the interest of the usual administrative bodies, so this program has stayed out of their immediate attention.
“We have raised this issue as well. We have already stayed behind enough in the world. Now a person can even watch television on his mobile phone screen. We mentioned that this program doesn’t reflect advances in the world. This approach is not found in the program presented by the Transport and Communication Ministry. We say that if we are talking about digital television, then let’s not talk about the information field. Let’s talk about the digitalization of television stations which is already a late step,” says our interlocutor. Here comes one issue: who is going to license the IP driver’s license? Internet television is considered as the electric communication network service which is licensed by the Public Services Regulatory Commission by law. However, this body doesn’t have the right to check the information sent. This right is reserved for the Amalyan committee, and this also doesn’t have corresponding competencies in the Internet field. According to Armen Grigoryan, this field doesn’t need to be licensed.
“At the international level it is discussed in summits on how to organize the free dispersion of information. Some countries propose setting limits on pornography and erotica, but these limits don’t work until the end. IP television must have the chance for development, after which we will be able to elaborate the mechanisms for management. Internet is open and accessible to all, and no Amalyan or Ishtoyan can determine anything. They can’t prohibit me from finding the information I want from the Internet. By local laws there have been limits on certain materials, and this approach may be used for IP television stations. There is no point in licensing,” says Grigorian.