In its cabinet session Thursday, the government approved the draft on making additions to the law on the state budget of Armenia for 2024.

The respective rationale states that within the framework of the implementation and development of mobile broadband 5G technology in Armenia, including the provision of radio frequency resources—in particular, the 3400-3800 MHz range—necessary to ensure the provision of services with high data transmission speeds and small network interruptions typical of full 5G technology, was liberalized and the 3600-3800MHz radio frequency sector was handed over to the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia.

Also, the 2300-2400 MHz radio frequency band has been handed over to the management of the PSRC, which, according to its intended use—including according to international experience, is also intended for the deployment and development of mobile broadband 5G technology networks.

Taking into account the abovementioned, it became necessary to define the fees for the provision and use of the respective sections of the given range of radio frequencies by the law on the 2024 state budget of Armenia, bearing in mind that the aforementioned radio frequencies are intended for mobile broadband communication networks of wireless access.

It is planned to put the 2300-2400 MHz and 3600-3800 MHz radio frequency segments on the list of radio frequencies defined for wireless access mobile broadband communication networks in Armenia, whereby the—one-time—mandatory provision fee for the 1 MHz radio frequency band of this resource shall be 25,000,000 drams, and the annual usage fee shall be 16,800,000 drams.

In this case, it will provide at least 7 billion 500 million one-time—in terms of provision—and 5 billion 40 million drams annually—in terms of use—of additional revenue to the state budget of Armenia.