Azerbaijan's ICT sector income jumps

The volume of income received in Azerbaijan in the information and communication technologies sector increased by 12 percent in 2011, compared to 2010, Minister of Communications and Information Technologies Ali Abbasov said at a Cabinet meeting under the chairmanship of President Ilham Aliyev and dedicated to the socio-economic development of 2011

Mr Abbasov noted that according to preliminary calculations about 400 million manat was invested in the sector.

Revenue for the postal communication sector of Azerbaijan increased by 23 per cent in 2011, Mr Abbasov said. IT production increased by 50 per cent, to 120 million manat in 2011.This basically corresponds to the elements of radio electronics, optical media, computers and software modules.

Mr Abbasov noted the republic's telephone network has been fully digitised and transferred into an international numbering system in 2011. Capacity of the public telephone network has been increased to 50 000 numbers and the current level of penetration of fixed telephony in the country is 18.6 per cent.

The subscriber base for 3G service operators has reached two million users for a short period after launching the network by two operators, Azercell and Bakcell.

The penetration rate of mobile telephony in Azerbaijan has reached 110 per cent, that is 40 per cent more than average, the ministry said.

The number of Internet users is 65 percent of the total population, 30 per cent of whom are users of broadband Internet access. The cost for the Internet services was reduced by 35 per cent as a result of competitiveness.


/Trend/