The 10-th current exhibition is the jubilee. Your attitude towards this measure.
- AzEuroTel has been participating in exhibition for many years running. I consider that such kind of measures is very important way of information exchange. The exhibition affords not only to demonstrate innovations but also to verify their effectiveness.
Besides, in fact AzEuroTel is the only company in Transcaucasia, which participated in World’s Telecommunication Exhibition in Geneva, twice in 1999 & in 2003, and annual exhibitions in Hanovera.
Every time after such great exhibitions, appears a new idea, which forms new opinions on technology & their use.
So the existence of exhibition is the great plus for the country on the whole & telecommunication sectors in particular.
- Problem of the last mile is rather known problem for many telecommunication world operators. How does AzEuroTel solve this problem?
- Basically, this problem exists in Azerbaijan, not in World. If you guess that you need the last mile, but someone from ground operators or ethereal radio operators don’t have the opportunity to give it to you, you can lay your optical or any other cable, thereby produce yourself necessary opportunity.
In our country, as before everything is controlled by monopolies, they exactly have right on decision.
In Principe, new government of field leads more liberal politics. now some optical networks are conducted in city, including our company. In 2-3 months we’ll receive optical outputs in several directions.
All over the World States build only main transit channels. all the rest country’s network is build by operators, such as AzEuroTel.
- AzEuroTel has many directions of activities, the company provides complete spectrum of telecommunication services. does it help or prevent you developing something one?
- Technological gap is ruinous for any company. Sooner or later it’ll bankrupt similar company. We purchase the very modern technology. There is arising a question of service integration. We are telephone operator, you – customer. You need Internet, you need telephone in car & net in summer cottage. We offer all this at once. Besides, the integration of all these services on base of one server is the immense economy. From the very beginning, 10 years ago, we planned not simple telephone exchange 492/497/437, but info- communication block. We have been producing it all these years.
- One might say, that AzEuroTel is the only operator in Azerbaijan, really introduced IP – telephony. On which level is this technology & how do you evaluate development of its perspectives?
- The century of IP – telephony must be divided to 3 parts.
The first stage is when IP – telephony essentially give the way to traditional telephone communication & has a mass of technical errors, such as distortion & interruption of speech, & etc.
The second stage started when the voice encoding was improved & reconstruction of lost packets could afford achieving the level when subscribers sufficiently easy understood the speech.
At least, the third stage – technologies, such as Reservation Protocol ( RSVP ), which afford reserving the strip gating. It’s marking out the strip in Internet stream, moreover sufficiently sustained strip, compressed through modern equipment at the expense of software environment. Starting from this stage IP – telephony became sustained telephone communication.
If you remember, ex- minister was prohibiting the use of present technology because of bad quality. It was the first period, we had already passed all these periods.
Literally at last exhibition we demonstrated IP – telephony, the quality of which isn’t differed from the traditional.
In nowadays, the great part of AzEuroTel’s international traffic run through IP – telephony. Our future stations are based on IP – telephony, the local nets will also work according IP – telephony base.
- How much the market of IP – telephony is competitive in Azerbaijan?
- It’s difficult to say in the presence of only 2 operators in market: our company & Aztelekom’s monopolists.
I think that we, nevertheless, reach officially giving an opportunity to operators to indulge in IP – telephony. For the purpose of this, it’s necessary to produce conditions, in which similar services would be favorable , both to operators and government.
- The present day, they say about development of region. How do you consider, do the companies have the real exit to regions?
- Firstly, 7 years ago in AzEuroTel’s development plan we marked for 5 years that there will be established 100 thousand of telephone numbers & not less than 150 thousand were planned to establish in country’s regions.
In order to come out to republic’s regions, any operator, & we needed assistance of republic. If our services are profitable in Baku, but in regions, & this is quite obvious, there won’t be any payback in the near 20 years.
The existent optical rates for the present time don’t afford us to buy channels, for instance, till Gandja.
If there arises situation when the government give us the channels free of charge, AzEuroTel could practically provide, for example, such city & formulate its infrastructure.
The government isn’t interested at the present time.
We were writing that we were ready to work in regions, but we were flatted out, moreover, ex – minister prevented the work in regions.
New minister is more progressive, has more contacts with outer world, he realises, that it’s impossible to keep monopolies by present development of technology & connection. It would be better to sell this monopoly at a high price with profit to government.
- Is everything going to change?
- Sure, it is allowed to produce local net, now there is solving a problem of coming out to regions.
- How do you think the telecommunication must be developed in Azerbaijan?
- Now, telecommunication’s basis is the high –speed channels of data’s transmission. There’s laid fiber – optical highway TAE & this is welfare.
If the government provides access to this wealth, all interested structures & everything will be changed.
Provide highway channels to the companies free of charge, but we’ll build Automatic Telephone Exchange (ATE ) by ourselves & adjust their exploitation.
To my opinion, government mustn’t divert its means on ATE construction. It would be better to use money to science & education.
- How do you appreciate the recent decision of rates’ reduction on connection services?
- It’ll be better to give rates on connection to telecommunications workers. People, who work with these rates, know better how & what to do.
Agree. Internet, in fact, is developed only in Baku. As provider we wanted to lay Internet in Gangja. For every 50 km we must pay 900 000 manats, & while the signal reach Gandja, it’ll cost the same sum, which suggested us former government of communication department. We produced only 2 m bit channel, but it’s already disadvantageous. It’s needed to pay for Internet, but its money, too. It turns out that while we reach Gandja, it’ll cost tidy sum. And how many subscribers do we need in order to take this sum? Will in Gandja be so many subscribers?
It turns out they want to earn money & develop regions on us.
I’ll repeat if the company tries to come out to regions, the government has to meet halfway, introduce benefits. The government built TAE to develop regions.
- Is AzEuroTel working now in some region?
- Very poor. We give Internet to Gandja & Mingechaur.
- As for VSAT – terminals, their exploitation is over, at least, what’s your valuation?
- VSAT – is the yesterday. To keep optics under the ground & say everyone: “ Go & produce VSAT all over republic” – it’s yesterday.
Today optics must be the main transport of information stream.
- But for now it’s the main way of data transmission in the country?
- Today yes.
- On whom AzEuroTel is aimed first of all: corporate subscribers or private users?
- If to speak of Internet services, then certainly the corporate market will be profitable, but it’s impossible to forget about usual users.
Yes, they don’t bring in return, sometimes even loss, but it isn’t their trouble, it’s ours. When Internet was just provided in Azerbaijan, the majority thoughtlessly drop the prices, and as a result we have absurd prices.
It’s impossible to enhance the price, it’s necessary to reduce them, & to achieve new standards of services. It’ll be possible when optical fiber starts to expanse.
- How do you evaluate potential of market’s development? When will AzEuroTel be privatized?
- Investment of capital is sure needed. At the same time I must note that there appeared opportunities in the country to accomplish internal placement of funds.
As for privatize of AzEuroTel, I hope we’ll complete it till the end of the year.
- A year passed from the last exhibition. This period was very substantial for sector’s development. What is remembered from the last year?
- The year was really event – trigger. World Summit was remembered for info telecommunication technologies in Geneva, which gave vigorous impulse to telecommunication development.
Our president I. Aliyev addressed perfectly at this summit. There was neatly emphasized how must be developed telecommunication in Azerbaijan. Nothing more can be done or said.


29 September 2004
BAKUTEL news