By Alexander Tagvoryan

YEREVAN, August 5–According to the statistics of the Customs Department of Armenia, in the first half of 2010 the number of cell phones imported to Armenia  increased to 440,000, up from 124,000 in the same period of 2009.

However, the representatives of companies that import and resell mobile phones refute the figures published by the committee of state revenues. According to News.am, roughly a dozen resellers interviewed claimed that imports did not increase.

Sony Ericsson’s representative said that the import of mobile phones in the last quarter grew by 25 percent, whereas in the preceding quarter, the growth was 30 percent. Mobile Center and Orange claimed that they had no change in imports of mobile phones.

Meanwhile, Orange recently introduced a new credit services for mobile phones, laptops and netbooks costing above 50,000 dram. The loan payment period is from 3-24 months at a 26 percent annual percentage rate with a 20-50 percent required down payment.

Yerevan Report