/Tert.am/ Georgia has sold the cable that enters Armenia through the railway. At an auction yesterday, Georgian Railways sold 100% of Georgian Railway Telecom (GRT) shares to Link Telecom Georgia.

Georgian Railways press secretary Irma Stepnadze informed local Armenian paper Capital that the Railway Telecom shares were sold for $14,344,800 USD (the opening bid for the cable was $14,144,800 USD). Stepnatze noted that, all in all, there were 4 bidders: 3 companies were Georgian, while one was not.

The 600-km fibre-optic cable that stretches along the length of Georgia’s railway belonged to Railway Telecom. It was created in 2000 from funding received from the European Union. It is through this cable that the Armenian company Fibernet Communications connects to the internet.

According to auction rules, the winning bidder is mandated, over the course of three years, to implement reconstruction work on the fibre-optic cable along the length of the railway.

The Railway Telecom bid was open to all. According to Capital, this was a good opportunity to raise Armenia’s communication, safety and internet connection reliability. From the perspective of developing Armenia’s communication networks, it would’ve been beneficial for Armenian companies to have participated in the bid.

Armenian internet providers in order to acquire the assets of these Georgian providers (in the case that their own means were insufficient), could’ve requested support from the Armenian government, reports Capital.

ArmenTel has 6 internet lines with a connection speed of 155 Mb/sec, five of which pass through Georgia. But this company doesn’t make up a big part of the wholesale market; a substantial amount of the internet is used for its own needs.

A serious player today in Armenia’s wholesale internet market is Fibernet Communications, who takes up 90% of the market. That means that a substantial portion of the internet coming into Armenia comes through the Railway Telecom cable.

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VivaCell-MTS, who leases a portion of Fibernet Communications’ cable, brings in internet from Rostelecom through this cable for its own needs. If an Armenian provider had acquired Georgian Railway Telecom, it would’ve been possible not only to raise the reliability of internet provision, but also to reduce fees.