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.
The share of the ICT sector in Azerbaijan's GDP was 2.1 percent, while 3 percent in non-oil GDP. Some 80.1 percent of the revenues received via the ICT sector accounted for the private sector.
The investments made in the sector of information and communication technologies increased by 2.2 times in Azerbaijan in January-September 2015 compared to the same period of last year.
Some 209.8 million manat was invested in the Azerbaijani ICT sector in the first nine months of 2015. The enterprises and structural subdivisions of the ministry invested 61.2 million manat in the ICT sector.
The revenues in the Azerbaijani ICT sector increased by 9.6 percent in the first nine months of 2015 compared to the same period of last year. The amount of revenues amounted to 1.281 billion manat in January-September 2015.
Information and communication services worth 1.217 billion manat were rendered for Azerbaijan's population and organizations in January-September 2015 or 8.8 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 72.7 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 657.5 million manat in January-September, which is 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 September 2015 increased by 1.2 percent and hit 36,351 compared to August 2015.
The state bodies were provided with 22,046 e-signatures, 6,522 e-signatures were issued to the legal entities and 7,783 to citizens.
e-commerce
E-commerce market volume amounted to 9.3 million manat in Azerbaijan as of January-September 2015.
The total volume of retail e-commerce in Azerbaijan increased twofold compared to the same period of 2014.
Some 92.2 percent of goods purchased in electronic form by the population of Azerbaijan in January-August 2015 accounted for legal entities and 7.8 percent - physical entities.
Non-food items accounted for 96.4 percent of e-commerce market turnover.
The total retail trade volume amounted to 18.1 billion manat in Azerbaijan in January-September. The sales of consumer goods in the country increased by 11.4 percent compared to the same period of 2014. Some 49.7 percent accounted for food.