ArmInfo.Four telecom operators in Armenia - MTS Armenia, UCom, Team Telecom Armenia and GNC Alpha - paid 39.2 billion drams to the state treasury in taxes for 2023, which is 14% higher than a year ago. Of this amount, 324.8 million drams were paid for customs duties, 9.7 billion - for direct taxes (including profit tax, income tax) and 17.6 billion - for indirect taxes (including VAT, excise tax).
According to the State Revenue Committee, MTS Armenia is the leader among the telecommunication operators of Armenia for the second year in a row (trademark VivaCell-MTS). In 2023, MTS Armenia paid 15.7 billion drams to the state treasury, moving down to 13th place (from 10th place a year earlier). Of this amount, 24.7 million drams were paid for customs duties, 5 billion drams for direct taxes (including profit tax, income tax), and 7.2 billion drams for VAT.
UCom moved up to 19th position (from 26th a year earlier), having contributed 12.4 billion drams to the budget for taxes, of which 92.1 million for customs duties, 1.6 billion for direct taxes (including tax on profit, income tax), and 5.4 billion for VAT.
Telecom Armenia (TEAM brand) took 26th place (versus 20th place in 2022), paying 9.1 billion drams to the state treasury, of which 192.1 million were in customs duties, 2.1 billion in direct taxes (incl. profit tax, income tax), 4.2 billion - for VAT.
GNC Alpha (Rostelecom trademark) moved down to 162nd place (from 149th place a year earlier), paying 1.8 billion drams to the state budget in taxes, of which 15.9 million in customs duties, 914.8 million in direct taxes (including profit tax, income tax), and 802.3 million for VAT.
In 2022, the four largest telecom operators in Armenia paid a total of 34.4 billion drams in taxes to the state treasury (with a y-o-y decline of 5%), of which 301.3 million were in customs duties, 9.8 billion in direct taxes ( including profit tax, income tax) and 16.2 billion - for indirect taxes (including VAT, excise tax). (The calculated dram exchange rate as of December 31, 2023 was 404.79 AMD/$1, against 393.57 AMD/$1 as of December 31, 2022).
On January 24, 2023, MTS announced the closing of the transaction for the sale of 100% of the shares of MTS Armenia CJSC, its subsidiary in the Republic of Armenia, (trademark VivaCell-MTS, serving 2.3 million subscribers) to the Cypriot Fedilco Group Limited. The transaction also included MobiDram CJSC, a payment system providing financial services in the Armenian market, a 100% subsidiary of MTS Armenia.
Before the deal, MTS Armenia belonged to Aramayo Investments Limited, which, in turn, through the Luxembourg Allegretto Holding was 100% owned by MTS. According to Interfax, the ultimate beneficiaries of Fedilco Group Limited are Mr. Zhe Zhang and Konstantin Sokolov. The Armenian Regulator approved the sale of 100% of the shares of MTS Armenia to the Cypriot Fedilco Group Limited from Aramayo Investments Limited in November 2023. A similar application by Fedilco was rejected by the Commission in April 2023 because it "threatened the national security or state interests of the Republic of Armenia."
