Azernews.Az

Leading international business and consultancy company The Business Year (TBY) and the Chief Executive Officer of Azerbaijani cellular operator Bakcell, Richard Shearer, have held a business meeting to discuss the latest launch of 3G technology, the benefits and opportunities within the number portability field, and the future prospects of 4G.

Shearer said that within 3 days of the launch of 3G services Bakcell received 500,000 new customers, and that they expect to increase the number as the technology takes off. According to the company, 60% of the 3G users usually surf the Internet to check their emails and use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube.

The CEO of Bakcell, who met with Gulay Sultan, Country Manager, and Ruben Martinez, Country Editor, also stressed the importance of the new mobile number portability (MNP) legislation, which is expected to come into effect by mid-2012. "I think number portability is definitely of benefit to the market. We are very committed to the introduction of MNP. It’s been shown in other markets to increase customer choice, which is always a good thing. For us, we see a significant opportunity to attack the corporate segment and also the national business segment."

Other topics included the coverage the network provides nationwide for its subscribers, which reaches 99% of the population and 96% of Azerbaijan’s territory, and the recent 4G commercial demonstration that Bakcell carried out, which proved to be a success with HD TV streaming.

After the success of TBY’s first publication on Azerbaijan’s economy, its research team is back in the country preparing a 2012 edition. The team is in the process of conducting more than 200 face-to-face interviews with Azerbaijan’s top decision makers to better understand and more accurately reflect business sentiment in the country.

The research will be published under the title The Business Year: Azerbaijan 2012, and will be one of the most comprehensive reviews of the Azerbaijani economy published internationally. The target readership of the publication includes top executives, policy makers, and media representatives around the world.