BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 27. The State Statistics Committee of Azerbaijan informed this week about growth in the retail trade turnover of computer equipment and electronics from January through April 2023, Trend reports.
According to the committee, this figure amounted to 177.9 million manat ($104.6 million), up by 11.2 million manat ($6.5 million) or 6.72 percent more on annual basis.
The committee also said that in the first four months of this year computer equipment and electronics worth 66.9 million manat ($39.3 million) were produced in Azerbaijan, which is 15.35 percent or 8.9 million manat ($5.2 million) more compared to the same period in 2022.
The production of computer, electronic and optical products increased 2.6 times during the reporting period of this year, and the production of electrical equipment - by 1.5 percent in comparison with the same period in 2022.
Besides, this week, according to Ookla, it was noted that the average download speeds for mobile and broadband internet access in April 2023 amounted to 39.12 (0.86 percent lower compared to March) and 28.83 (an increase of 3.56 percent) Mbit/s, respectively, in Azerbaijan.
Thus, Azerbaijan has improved the indicator in terms of data transmission speed in the broadband network and moved from 118 to 116 positions among 180 countries, and also ranked 58th among 138 countries in terms of data download speed over mobile access.
It was also noted this week that Azerbaijan's Innovation and Digital Development Agency is developing the country's innovation ecosystem in six directions.
According to the agency, the main areas include the sectors of human capital development, technological entrepreneurship, investment and innovation ecosystems, as well as regulation of legislation and the formation of infrastructure.
Based on the work done in all these areas, it was revealed that the agency is getting closer to its goals step by step. Thus, the Technest Scholarship Programme, implemented for the development of human capital in the field of ICT, in 2021 provided scholarships to 618 of its students, and in 2022 more than 1,500 people became scholarship holders.
At the same time, 60 people have already started an intensive training program at the newly established Cyber Security Center of the country jointly with the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.
It was noted that since the beginning of the year, the agency has been working on the development of the investment ecosystem.
The Caucasus Ventures, a fund created in the country, has already invested in three Azerbaijani startups, and six more startups are under consideration. At the same time, the Technovate Angels Club, with the support of our agency, made investments in the amount of $125,000 for the first time.
Deputy Secretary General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Tomas Lamanauskas said this week that the ITU and Azerbaijan are working on the creation of a new telecom connection.
According to him, the creation of a new telecom connection is important from the point of view of the formation of a new infrastructure: conventional telephone communication, the internet and other telecommunication services.
He noted that ITU and the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport of Azerbaijan are negotiating this project. They were also conducted on the eve of the GSMA M360 Eurasia 2023 conference, which was held on May 16-17 in Baku. Lamanauskas added that the two structures are also working on strengthening cybersecurity capabilities, considering options for using 5G.