The Azerbaijani information and communication technology sector (ICT) is one of the most dynamically developing sectors of the national economy due its profitability and total profitability of this business. Although the main catalyst for the growth of Azerbaijan's economy is the oil and gas sector, the ICT sector also increases its capacity every year.
Information and communication services worth 1.077 billion manat were rendered for Azerbaijan's population and organizations in January-August 2015 or 10.8 percent more than in the same period of 2014, the Azerbaijani State Statistics Committee's report says.
Some 81.1 percent of income received through the sector accounted for the non-state enterprises.
Around 72.6 percent of the total volume of information and communication services accounted for the services rendered to the population.
Some 54 percent of a total volume of obtained income accounted for mobile services.
A total volume of revenues obtained from mobile services in Azerbaijan hit 581.7 million manat in January-August, which is 2.2 percent less than in the same period of 2014.
е-signature
The total number of electronic digital signatures (e-signatures) issued by the Azerbaijani National Certification Services Center in August 2015 increased by 2.3 percent and hit 35,915 compared to July 2015.
The state bodies were provided with 21,795 e-signatures, 6,385 e-signatures were issued to the legal entities and 7,735 to citizens.
Some 335 services of the total number of approved electronic services (454) are available on the "electronic government" (e-gov.az) portal. The total number of e-services placed on the websites of Azerbaijani state organizations is 482.
e-commerce
E-commerce market volume amounted to 8.2 million manat in Azerbaijan as of January-August 2015.
The total volume of retail e-commerce in Azerbaijan increased twofold compared to the same period of 2014.
Some 92.7 percent of goods purchased in electronic form by the population of Azerbaijan in January-August 2015 accounted for legal entities and 7.3 percent - physical entities.
Non-food items accounted for 96.5 percent of e-commerce market turnover.
The total retail trade volume amounted to 15.9 billion manat in Azerbaijan in January-August. The sales of consumer goods in the country increased by 11.3 percent compared to the same period of 2014. Some 49.7 percent accounted for food. Some 49.9 percent accounted for the non-food items.