Telecommunications sector of Armenia and Baltic countries: The impact of foreign direct investment attraction

Abstract

We examine the institutional and investment developments in the telecommunications sector of Armenia in the last two decades and compare them with those of the Baltic countries, namely, Latvia and Lithuania. In particular, directions of foreign investments made in the sector and the impacts on economic and technological systems of Armenia and the chosen Baltic countries have been thoroughly analyzed. During the analysis, an economic model has been used to assess the impact of foreign direct investments on the income (revenues) of the telecommunications sector of the countries under investigation. Econometric analysis made it possible to consider the above-mentioned links in more depth and in detail. First, a correlation analysis has been carried out which has proved the validity of the hypotheses that there is a strong connection between FDI and the revenue of the telecommunications sector in Armenia and Latvia in the considered time period of 2009-2019. The causal roots of the relationships between the two variables have been studied. After processing the statistical data and refining the model specifications, an econometric model for Armenia has been proposed with the help of which the key relationships have been clarified. The evaluated model, which satisfies the basic quality of econometric models, helped to draw important conclusions on the depth and nature of the impact of foreign direct investment volume on the income of the telecommunications sector in Armenia. The model clearly shows the unstable influence of foreign direct investments on income, which confirms the riskiness of the Armenian economy as a whole, since the country has been in an economic blockade and in a state of war with a neighbouring state for more than 20 years.