Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 27
By Huseyn Valiyev – Trend:
No decrease of tariffs for Internet access is expected in the short term in Azerbaijan, Subhan Garagoz, head of the project management department at Smart Systems Technology, Azerbaijan’s software development and telecommunication solutions provider, told Trend.
He said that the processes, which have taken place over the past year, show that the market requires reduction in tariffs for Internet services, and, unfortunately, Internet service providers (ISPs) cannot do it.
“There are certain factors that influence the sale of Internet traffic, which lead to high costs for ISPs,” Garagoz noted. “Most ISPs face difficulties due to arrears to Azerbaijan’s major state telecommunication operators and the absence of any benefits. The debt volume and payment schedule puts ISPs in a difficult position. Timely repayment of the debt depends on timely collection of subscriber payments as well.”
Garagoz said the İSPs are still in a difficult situation, which emerged due to negative events taking place in economy and in particular due to the depreciation of the Azerbaijani national currency.
Currently, the share of ADSL connections is gradually decreasing amid the increase in the share of fiber optic connections, and rendering fiber optic Internet services is directly related to the work on laying fiber optic cable, he said.
Tariffs for the Internet are also formed based on the monthly cost of usage of fiber optic, cable and sewage facilities infrastructure of Azerbaijani major telecommunication operators by the ISPs, he noted.
“Unfortunately, the ISPs don’t get benefits for using such infrastructure,” Garagoz added. “All the above mentioned, taken together, becomes factors that contribute to stagnation in the market.”