INTERNET CONNECTION STILL SLOW AND EXPENSIVE

Armenia ranked 96th in the rating because Internet connection is too expensive and unavailable in many areas around the country, Varouzham Masarajian, Director and General Manager of Armenia Operations of Virage Logic Corporation, said.

Internet connection is poor, dial up is slow and GPRS is not wide spread in the country, he said. Besides, high price of computer equipment is really a big obstacle for rapid development of the sector – even not all Virage Logic employees can afford to buy a good computer for home use, Masarajian noted.

However, Armenia does have some advantages compared to other countries – the country has good intellectual potential, engineers here are very talented. Apart from that, labour market is well-developed in Armenia, since a big number of IT companies operate in the country, bringing about stronger competition, Masarajian said.

Technologies World Competitiveness Report for 2006-2007 ranked Armenia as 96th out of 122 countries in network preparedness list.