Azerbaijan, Baku / Trend corr S. Babayeva / The Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and IT has put into operation the new service of '108'.
According to the Ministry, some 100 villages (over 7,000 of telephone subscribers) did not have the opportunity to implement international and long-distance calls due to lack of the automatic number identification system (ANI). Introduction of ANI in village automatic telephone exchanges requires supplementary expenditures. The '108' service has been introduced by Aztelekom on the basis of new software developed for implementation of international and long-distance calls. The service is based on the 'Return Call' system. A subscriber dials 108, then '*', the code of his/her region or village, his/her telephone number, and finally '#'.
The switching centre receives the dialled data and calls the subscriber.
The subscriber lifts the telephone receiver and dials '*', the code of the country and the city he/she wants to call, the phone number, and finally '#'.
Although the service has been introduced just recently, it finds a market among the rural population. The system will be in operation until full computerization of communications in the villages.