Abstract INTRODUCTION history economy recommendation References
introduction
Armenia is a country located in the heart of the mountainous
Caucasus region bordering countries such as Turkey and Iran. Many are unfamiliar when asked about Armenia,
partly due to its geographical location, corruption, and political instability.
It wouldn't come to anyone's surprise that a country with so much uncertainty
would lack proper telecommunication and IT infrastructure to maintain relevance
in the global market. Before getting in
to such possible solutions for global competition, one must understand
Armenia's government and structure. The
entire area encompasses roughly 11,500 square miles of land, slightly larger
than Maryland ("Background Notes on Countries of the World: Armenia"
1-2). The land is mainly composed of
high scale mountains (80%), with little forest land ("Background Notes on
Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2).
Armenia experiences very dry conditions, often dealing with very cold
winters and warm summers ("Background Notes on Countries of the World:
Armenia" 1-2). The capital of the
country is Yerevan and has a population of 1.1 million ("Background Notes
on Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2).
In 1993, the Armenian dram was introduced as legal tender which had
replaced the rouble.
According to data a population of 3.24 million, ranging from ethnic
groups such as the Armenians (98%), Yezidis (1.2%),
and the Russians (.8%) encompass the
area ("Background Notes on Countries of the World: Armenia"
1-2). A vast majority of the population
(95%) speak Armenian, the official language of the country ("Background
Notes on Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2). As being a country rich of
history, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity
during the 4th century. Thus 90% of the
population follows the Armenian Apostolic Church as the national church of
state ("Background Notes on Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2). Literacy holds steady at a 99% rate while
current figures for life expectancy show an average lifetime of 66.6 years ("Background Notes on
Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2).
Currently, Armenia is undergoing a heavy loss in population partly due
to many native Armenians emigrating to different countries (such as the US,
Russia, and England) because of economic and political uncertainty following
the split with the Soviet Union ("Economist Intelligence Unit" 17).
Governmental functions are outlined in the Armenian constitution which was
adopted on July 5th, 1995 providing political framework for a relatively young
country. With the President acting as
head of the government possessing executive powers beyond the legislative and
judicial branches, the Armenian government is formed as a Republic
("Background Notes on Countries of the World: Armenia" 1-2). The presidential elections are held by
popular vote with a 5 year term for a maximum two times. The president also appoints a prime minister,
who in turn appoints members of the government/cabinet ("American Review
2010" 8). Armenia's
telecommunication market suffers due to its lack of resources, which degrades
Armenia's IT environment ("Armenia Economic Studies" 18-19). All communication services are ran though Armentel, a single holding monopoly, which handles all
communication infrastructure programs ("Armenia Economic Studies"
18-19). Internet services are not well
developed in Armenia, particularly due to Armentel's
long-holding monopoly resulting from lack of competition which forces
unreasonable prices for Internet usage ("Armenia Economic Studies"
18-19). The following analysis will
further investigate how the Armenian's can enter the global market using ICT
technologies. By encouraging competitive
bidding for investment of fiber optic cabling and implementation of E-Learning
for students, the Armenians can capitalize in the increased demand for database
services to revamp the ailing global health care IT infrastructure.
