Armenian payment processing companies and telecom operators fail to  reach  agreement - payments for telecom services  blocked

ArmInfo.  Armenian payment processing organizations (PPOs) represented by EasyPay, Idram, Telcell, and Fast Shift, have failed to reach an agreement with the country's mobile  operators Viva Armenia, Team Telecom, and UCOM regarding the  commission for accepting payments for telecom services. Payment  acceptance through PPO terminals will be suspended starting February  1. 

Today, Armenian payment processing companies issued a joint statement  regarding this matter. According to the statement, "the new terms of  cooperation proposed by Viva Armenia, Team Telecom, and UCOM are  inconsistent with the principles of mutually beneficial cooperation  and are one-sided, jeopardizing the economic foundations for the  continuous and high-quality provision of services."

According to PPOs, "in recent years, the actual cost of financial  services has increased significantly, including expenses for  technical maintenance, security, and infrastructure upkeep. Despite  this, payment processing companies, emphasizing the public interest  and accessibility of payment services for citizens, have not applied  for tariff revisions and have continued to provide services under the  current terms.

Currently, the sharp reduction in commission fees of 40-50% proposed  by telecommunications companies does not provide even minimal  economic balance and makes it virtually impossible to maintain  services in the current format. The refusal of payment processing  organizations to accept the proposed changes has led to the  unilateral termination of existing contracts by telecommunications  operators, making negotiations and resolution of the issue  impossible." 

It is worth noting,  that  a significant portion of mobile operator  payments are currently processed through payment and settlement  companies' platforms, which provide citizens with fast, secure, and  modern payment solutions.

The statement emphasizes that if the imposed changes come into force,  hundreds of thousands of subscribers can lose this convenience as of  February 1. Such changes can result in the emergence of additional  intermediaries engaged in self-service and  create additional  financial burdens. This goes against the logic of modern payment  services development. 

Payment processing companies have consistently proposed engaging in  negotiations, expanding services, and establishing new cooperation  models, firmly believing that stable cooperation must be based on a  balance of interests for all parties. Unilateral decisions may  violate the principles of fair competition, and therefore they will  be appealed to the Competition Protection Commission of the Republic  of Armenia and the relevant government agencies.  According to a  joint statement from the payment processing companies, they reaffirm  their willingness to continue cooperation only on mutually  beneficial, financially viable, and long-term sustainable terms, in  the interests of citizens and the development of the entire payment  system. 

It should be noted that this week, all three mobile operators in  Armenia sent out announcements stating that payments for their  services through the EasyPay, Idram, Telcell, and Fast Shift  platforms would be unavailable starting in February. No reasons were  given. "Payment for services will not be made through payment  systems, payment terminals, online wallets, or branches of the  aforementioned companies," the announcements stated. According to  ArmInfo, payment processing organizations (PPOs) received commissions  of up to 3% of the payment amount from mobile operators for payment  acceptance services via terminals and wallets. However, starting in  2026, mobile operators decided to significantly reduce the agency  commission. The parties were unable to reach an agreement. Currently,  the operators are seeking to migrate users to their own or bank  payment channels (apps and websites), where the commission is 0%.