Azerbaijan may launch production of fiber optic cables
By Nigar Orujova
Azerbaijan plans to launch production of fiber optic cables, Isfandiyar Aliyev, head of strategic development department at the Communications and IT Ministry said on May 30.
According to Aliyev, the launching this production will depend on economic components and relevant demand.
Negotiations on this issue are being carried out with an Austrian company, which is interested in building a plant for the production of telecommunication cables in Azerbaijan.
The production capacity of the plant will meet both domestic demand and export capacity.
The demand for fiber optic cables will increase substantially with the implementation of the project for development of broadband Internet in Baku and Azerbaijani regions, Aliyev noted.
"Currently, the most common technology to access the Internet in Azerbaijan is ADSL which has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is the most rapid development of Internet connection, the downside is the inability to provide high-quality access to Internet.
"It is important to have a qualitative internet access, which may be obtained through optical connections," Aliyev said.
The expert noted that access rate in Azerbaijan is now much closer to that of European countries.
"For instance, the issue of high internet tariffs is not so acute in Azerbaijan as it was five or six years ago. Internet service providers gradually increase the Internet speed, while preserving the existing tariff bar. For example, if the cost of connection at a speed of two megabits per second costs 10 manat ($12.7) for now, over a time the consumer may receive an even greater access speed of 3.5 megabits per second and higher at the same price," Aliyev said.
Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund allocated 103 million manats ($131 million) for the development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan this year. Funding will also be provided in the coming years. Thus, all regions of Azerbaijan are expected to be provided with high-speed access to the Internet by 2017.
The broadband internet is introduced under the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) project, which aims to build a fiber network for providing high-speed broadband internet services to consumers.
The traffic speed in FTTH technology will vary between 10 and 100 Mbit/s, while with ADSL the private user can enjoy only 2 to 8 Mbit/s speed depending on the telephone line's condition and distance from the telephone exchange.
Azerbaijan reached leading position among the CIS countries in terms of broadband Internet penetration over the past three years. Internet penetration rates increased from 65 to 70 percent in 2012.