The amount of information and communication services rendered to business entities in Azerbaijan in January-August amounted to 723.1 million manat, or 32.9 percent more than the same period of last year. About 74.3 percent fell on share of paid services provided to population.
According to the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, the amount of income received by the information and communication technologies sector in Azerbaijan over the past six years have increased 4.4 times. If in 2008 the income share of ICT in the country's GDP amounted to 1.6 percent, in 2009 the figure was two percent. In general, the share of ICT in non-oil sector of the Republic has increased from 4.2 percent in 2008 to 4.4 percent.
At the expense of positive steps taken in the development of ICT infrastructure, this sector has extended several times. According to the latest data from the Ministry, the amount of income received by the ICT sector in GDP in the first half year amounted to three percent.
Index of services rendered by telecommunication and postal divisions in August 2010, in percent
As compared to previous month As compared to the previous year
2009
January 62,4 107,9
February 102,5 102,3
March 126,6 106,2
April 122,2 111,7
May 91,5 116,9
June 101,6 114,0
July 107,0 114,9
August 91,9 114,0
September 104,5 113,3
October 106,5 113,7
November 86,0 112,8
2010
January 118,0 118,0
February 119,5 127,9
March 110,4 124,8
April 127,2 124,9
May 92,0 125,1
June 114,2 128,2
July 110,9 131,3
August 90,0 132,9
About 68.4 percent of the revenue fall to mobile services, of which growth, compared to the same period of last year, hits 33.1 percent, totaling 494.6 manat.
As formerly, mobile communications make up the major part of communication incomes.
As a result of last year, Azerbaijani mobile communication operators' subscriber base increased by 19 percent, amounting 8.5 million subscribers.
The overwhelming part of mobile users in Azerbaijan accounts for GSM standard. Currently three GSM operators function in Azerbaijan, including Azercell Telecom (3.7mln subscribers), Bakcell (2mln), Azerfon (1.5mln).
A new wave of development of broadband communication market is observed in the market of internet services. Internet access market has been demonstrating sustainable growth over recent years.
For number of Internet users, Azerbaijan outstrips Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. According to Internet World Stats's (IWS) new report, number of Internet users in Azerbaijan reaches 3.69 million. According to IWS, Internet penetration rate in the republic is 44.4 percent. In the Internet World Stats's previous report (in 2009), the number of Internet users in Azerbaijan was indicated at 1.48 million people.
Azerbaijan ranked 59 on the speed of outgoing Internet traffic in Ookla company's Net Index rating. This company created Speedtest service. The results were received on the basis of experimental studies from June 15-July 14. About 59,160 unique IP-addresses were chosen for the tests. According to the rating Net Index, the average speed of outgoing traffic in Azerbaijan is 1.12 Mbps. Azerbaijan is ahead of Singapore (60), UAE (62), Great Britain (70), Italy (76), Spain (87), Israel (99), etc. on outgoing traffic. The first three countries include South Korea (19.32 Mb / s), Lithuania (13.11 Mbps) and Latvia (12,44 Mb / s) on the speed of outgoing traffic. Azerbaijan ranks 81 with traffic speed of 2.82 Mbps, leaving behind Armenia (86) - 2,55 Mb / s, Malaysia (101) - 2,12 Mbps, Mexico (103) - 2.06 Mb / s, Uzbekistan (124) - 1.51 Mb / s, Iran (153) - 0.61 Mb / s, etc. The first three countries include South Korea (32.47 Mb / s), Latvia (23.78 Mbps) and the Aland Islands (22.01 Mbps).
