VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian, employees of the Company and the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia team participated in the construction of the half-built house of Hayrapetyan family from Poqr Vedi community in Ararat region. Previously the partners assisted four more families from Khor Virap (Pokr Vedi) and Marmarashen communities of the same region through housing.
The press office of VivaCell-MTS has told ArmInfo that the Hayrapetyans started the construction of their house 25 years ago. During this time they managed to build only the basement, where they used to live for ten years. Then their neighbor, who was going abroad, gave them his house temporarily. It took the family 15 years to build the walls of the house.
"My son Harutyun was born and raised in a dark and damp basement. My husband and I couldn't forgive ourselves that we couldn't provide necessary living conditions for our son. Now my son has his own family, and am so happy that finally we can live under our own roof and feel the warmth of home,'' Raya, the family mother, said.
Through the housing project financed by VivaCell-MTS and implemented by Fuller Center for Housing Armenia 40 families have overcome the problem of building a house, leaving their worries behind.
"The most imortant place for Armenians and for the mankind in general is the home, a place where one becomes a full member of the society, where one's hopes and dreams are born, where the past and the future interlace and become a family history. This house is a dream of a quarter of a century for this family and definitely it was worth making that dream come true," Fuller Center for Housing Armenia President Ashot Yeghiazaryan said.
"We readily and proudly partake in the realization of this program. It is a pleasure to see yet another family shrugging off its burden and regaining the hope for the future. And, of course, it is by occasion that we go beyond the purely financial support. Our employees' readiness to join the construction works is the moral side of the issue, which is probably even more important," mentioned VivaCell-MTS General Manager Ralph Yirikian.
To remind, in 2015 VivaCell-MTS invested AMD100 million (AMD55 million in 2014) for the realization of the project, and Fuller Center for Housing Armenia has undertaken its implementation. Through this partnership, from 2007 up to now, 53 families from different communities of the republic already have decent homes. Till the end of the year the number of the families having their houses renovated or the construction of the half-built houses completed will reach 93.
VivaCell-MTS (K-Telecom CJSC) is Armenia's leading mobile operator, having the widest 2G/3.75G/4G network reach and spreading a wide range of Voice and Data services all across Armenia. Having the best of the Armenian people interest at heart since its launch on 1st July 2005 and in a short period of time VivaCell-MTS has managed to build a nationwide network and a considerable customer base. VivaCell-MTS drives innovation and aims at always being at the forefront of any development serving the Armenian mobile communications market. The company follows the guidance provided by ISO 26000 (International Standard of Social Responsibility).
Mobile TeleSystems OJSC ("MTS") is the leading telecommunications group in Russia and the CIS, offering mobile and fixed voice, broadband, pay TV as well as content and entertainment services in one of the world's fastest growing regions. Including its subsidiaries, the Group services over 100 million mobile subscribers. The Group has been awarded GSM licenses in Russia, Ukraine, Turkmenistan, Uzbekstan, Armenia and Belarus, a region that boasts a total population of more than 200 million. Since June 2000, MTS' Level 3 ADRs have been listed on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol MBT).
Fuller Center for Housing Armenia is a non-governmental, charitable organization that supports community development in the Republics of Armenia and Artsakh by assisting in building and renovating simple, decent and affordable homes, as well as advocating the right to a decent shelter as a matter of conscience and action. FCHA provides long-term, interest-free loans to low-income families. The monthly repayments flow into a Revolving Fund, which is used to help more families, thereby providing a financial foundation for sustainable community development. Since 2008 the Fuller Center for Housing Armenia has assisted more than 450 families.