Azerbaijan, Baku, 27 June / corr. Trend S. Babayeva/ The Coordinating Council on Development of Internet at the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology of Azerbaijan has developed preliminary proposals on the drop in the prices for Internet services in Azerbaijan, Rufat Gulmammadov, head of the Department for Development of Informational Society of the Ministry said on 27 June.
"The proposals include measures which the Ministry can carry out to influence internet prices," Gulmammadov said.
He said that the proposals will be introduced to the minister of communication within the next few days.
According to the comparative analysis of Internet Forum NGO of Azerbaijan into the ADSL internet services, in January to February 2008, 64Kb/h internet channel cost $50 while the same figure made up $5-$10 in Russia. Some 2,048Kb/h (2Mb) internet channel costs $1,500 in Azerbaijan and $30-$45 in Russia.
"Though these prices were lowered two years ago, they are still high. We can not influence the cost of the international internet channel, but there are chances to lower the prices of the internal resources," minister said earlier.
There are some 30 internet providers in Azerbaijan with 2 of then being state-owned companies.
The number of internet users in Azerbaijan totals to 1 million.
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