Azerbaijan extends broadband internet project until 2017
By Nigar Orujova
The project on the development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan will be implemented in the period 2013-2017, Communications and Information Technologies Minister Ali Abbasov said on Thursday.
The project has been extended for two years as it was previously expected to be completed by 2015.
According to Abbasov, Azerbaijan's State Oil Fund allocated 103 million manats ($131 million) for the project this year. Funding will also be provided in the coming years. All regions of Azerbaijan will be provided with high-speed access to the Internet by 2017.
Regarding digital content in Azerbaijan, Abbasov said the increase in the number of electronic signature users contributes to its development.
According to the minister, the number of electronic signatures issued by the certification center has now reached 12,000. This is a low figure given the country's population of over 9 million.
The use of digital signatures will spur the development of electronic services and in particular e-commerce, as well as simplify the procedure for issuance of official documents, he said.
Abbasov noted that by the end of the year, the ministry intends to continue the implementation of the e-government project in the country, commission a new ground satellite station to monitor the earth's surface and complete the full transition to digital broadcasting.
According to Aztelekom Production Association, the number of broadband internet users in the network of the association increased by 19 percent since the beginning of the year and currently is over 136,000 connections.
In April, the number of households with access to broadband Internet reached 250,000 in Azerbaijan's capital Baku, with the figure expected to reach 400,000 by the end of 2013.
The introduction of broadband internet is being implemented under the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) project. The project is aimed at building a fiber network for providing high-speed broadband internet services to the population.
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.
The project is to be implemented in three phases. The main goal of the project is to provide remote regions of the country with broadband Internet with a speed of 10 to 100 Mbit/s and expand the number of users to 85 percent.
Azerbaijan has maintained its 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.