Azerbaijan, Baku/ Trend , corr. S. Babayeva/ Ali Abbasov, Azerbaijan's Telecommunication and IT Minister, has said today that the decision on changing the tariffs on local telephone conversations is not linked with the recent increase in prices on energy carriers.
"After the tarifss is increased, expenditures in the field of communication annually increased on AZN 2-2,5 mln. on average, however, these funds were not so significant in the total volume of expenditures," notes the Azerbaijani Minister.
"The variety of services offering by different companies (particularly by private-owned ones) is set up to increase, and we consider that it would be more expedient if all the services had their costs," stressed Mr. Abbasov.
The Minister said that the proposals were intended for reducing tariffs on international and long-distance telephone calls, as well as on increasing the subscription fee.
"I consider it is not an increase, on the contrary- reduction of prices," he admitted.
The Telecommunication Minister said that the introduction of limits on local intercity telephone calls is envisaged for Baku only. The free of charge limit has been proposed for 450 minutes. After expiring the limit, the subscriber will have to extra pay for a telephone cal per minute.
Up to date, the prime cost of each stationary telephone in Azerbaijan is estimated at AZN 3, while the monthly subscription free has been determined at about AZN 0.70 (70 gapiks).