BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 11
By Sadraddin Agjayev – Trend:
All participants of the domestic telecommunications market have to prepare for the coming fifth internet generation.
The Executive Director of the Azerbaijani Cable Operators Association (ACOA) Ali Aliyev talked about the prospects for the development of the internet, cable television and Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), as well as of fiber optic data transfer providers in Azerbaijan in an interview with Trend.
“Technology development trends indicate the priority of convergence - in the provision of services in the direction of Fixed Mobile Convergence (FMC), combining mobile and fixed communication networks. Currently, the broadband Internet access (BBA) market is one of the most promising in terms of business development. With a slowdown in the voice mobile market due to market saturation, integrated operators will rely mainly on the development of BBA’s services - both mobile and fixed," the executive director said.
"For 2020, the market outlined some trends that will continue and will intensify in the future. First of all, these are the integration processes conducted by large telecommunication companies, and the combination of mobile and fixed internet businesses. Market development will be associated with the enlargement of operators, lower prices for BBA’s services in the regions, and the integrated provision of services from one operator. Due to the heavier content, more attention is paid to the bandwidth of the communication channel,” Aliyev noted.
“Now operators are waiting for the adoption of standards to obtain permission from the regulator to conduct tests on the deployment of LTE / 5G networks. The results of these tests will help to resolve the issue of frequency conversion for the construction of LTE / 5G networks, which may become the basis for future data transmission in mobile networks. These networks will replace a whole class of consumer services,” the executive director said.
“Fifth generation networks will become an alternative to the wire at the entrance to the house. A competitive solution for traditional Fiber to the Home (FTTH) fixed connection will be Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) technology based on 5G networks that is more economically justified in low-rise areas. In the near future, there will be a complete convergence of wired broadband networks to the internet and fifth generation systems. Given these trends, mobile operators are investing more than 80 percent of the existing funds in the wired optical segment,” Aliyev said.
“Cable operators and internet providers have begun to transform into digital service providers. Market players are actively investing in non-telecommunications, non-core assets, that is, in cloud solutions, content technologies, building data centers, e-sports, technologies using big data and other types of services.” the executive director noted.
“The increase of high-speed Internet penetration has stimulated a large growth in online advertising, whose growth rates are ahead of all other advertising channels. This trend will continue and advertising will gradually flow into the global network. At the end of 2019, the digital advertising market in Azerbaijan amounted to 30 percent of the total volume of placements, and most of the online promotions are presented on Google, YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram international platforms,” Aliyev said.
“Besides the advertising, television is also entering the Internet - another trend that is actively developing. Currently, watching TV shows from IPTV / OTT (Over the Top) platforms is provided mainly from pirated resources, the activities of which are not limited in any way. The increasing of free television shows on the internet, as well as from various satellite platforms, negatively affects the development of cable operators, as well as the increase of advertising on national television channels,” the executive director added.
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