Azerbaijan, Baku / corr. Trend S.Babayeva / The Director General of Azercell Telecom JV, Halim Ates, said on 6 March at a press conference that the arrival of a new mobile operator, Azerfon, will primarily serve toexpand the mobile market in Azerbaijan.
According to him, over the period of its 10-year activities in Azerbaijan, Azercell has attempted to apply quality mobile services. "The competition will not affect our strategy, as always, we will do what we consider to be right," Ates said. The Head of the Company said that there was always competition in the market because apart from the newly-created Azerfon, previously there were three mobile operators functioning in Azerbaijan (Azercell, Bakcell, and Catel (CDMA)).
The first mobile services in Azerbaijan were provided by Bakcell JV created in 1994. The creation of Azercell in 1996 supported the development of the mobile services and presently the gross number of the subscribers exceeds 2 mln.
The demand for mobile communication is increasing and according to the decision of the Executive Board of the Ministry in December 2006, Azerfon was given the licence to provide mobile services in accordance with GSM standards.
Azerfon is expected to commence its services in the near future.
