YouTube, PayPal, and Starlink: Which Digital Services Are Coming to Armenia

The most advanced direction remains the connection of YouTube monetization

The development of digital services is accelerating in Armenia: the authorities are negotiating with major international platforms, hoping to expand their availability to users and businesses. According to the Minister of High-Tech Industry, Mkhitar Hayrapetyan, the signing of a strategic memorandum with the United States in August was a turning point, after which the interest of American companies in the market increased significantly.

The most advanced direction remains the connection of YouTube monetization — negotiations are in the final stage. This will be followed by the launch of YouTube Premium and YouTube Kids. At the same time, a full-fledged launch of PayPal is being discussed, which is critical for freelancers and startups, and negotiations are underway to connect Stripe.

Image source: Grok

The issue of monetization in the Meta ecosystem (recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation) is the most difficult to promote — such functions are available only in a limited number of countries, and Armenia is not yet on this list. At the same time, the project with Starlink satellite Internet from SpaceX has already been implemented: the service has been operating since last year, and schools have received about 110 terminals. A dialogue is also underway with Sony to improve access to PlayStation services, although this area is not yet a priority.