Azerbaijan, Baku, 6 August / corr. Trend S.Babayeva / The establishment of the Coordination Council on Internet Development in Azerbaijan, will definitely have a positive influence on price cut for Internet access in the country, Yashar Hajiyev, the director of Information Policy Analytic Centre and coordinator of the country on the Global Internet Policy Initiative (GIPI) international project, said.
"All interested people sit face to face and discuss real solution of the issue at the council and this is the advantage of establishment of the council," Hajiyev said.
According to the expert, price cut for Internet access may be forecasted for the next two months in this situation. "Both the Ministry and providers are unanimous in the necessity of price cut with the objective to develop Internet in the country," Hajiyev said.
The GIPI coordinator said that prices were expensive in Azerbaijan as compared to neighboring countries, taking into consideration long distance with the world backbones.
Hajiyev said that the number of Internet users would reach 600,000-700,000 people in presence of 22-26 Internet providers in the country due the approximate calculations.
Earlier Osman Gunduz, the director of Information System and Multimedia Technology Centre and the president of Internet Forum, said that prices of Internet access did not depend on the establishment of the Coordination Council on Internet Development in the country.
"It is difficult for me to imagine a connection between price cut and the Council," Gunduz said.
According to Ali Abbassov, the Azerbaijani Communication and Information Technology Minister, the establishment of the Council at the beginning of 2008 enabled price cut of Internet access by 30-35%. "We worried about prices for Internet access and established the council with this purpose," Abbasov said.
Gunduz considers that the major way to cut price for Internet access in the country is the development among open competition and holding concrete reforms by the state bodies including the Ministries of Communication and Information Technology and Economic Development.
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