THE OPERATION CENTRE

The realities of post-oil development in Azerbaijan necessitate access of national non-oil economy to international market, both through the expansion of merchandise exports, and through the integration into the global system of development and production of industrial and high-tech products. The most promising direction seems to be the development of information and communication technology (ICT), which has a high value added ratio in invested capital.

The ICT achievements and the trends in international IT-market were clearly presented at the exhibition Bakutel-2016 recently organized by Iteca Caspian. The forum brought together over 200 companies from 18 countries, where 40% of participants are permanent exhibitors at Bakutel.

ICT sector is one of the key drivers in the implementation of the strategic plan of modernization of Azerbaijan's economy supporting its integration into the global market. So, one of the key areas of strategic road map for the national economy and the main sectors of the economy is the development of telecommunications and information technology.

One of the main points of the document is the further development of multilevel Internet infrastructure, the expansion of public access to broadband services, as well as the growth of network traffic. The capacity of AzNET IP-traffic currently reaches about 600 gigabits, with two thirds of this amount reserved for the sustainability of national Internet system. The following development phase of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan was launched in mid-2015. The ultimate goal was to cover the whole territory of the country, including remote communities, with broadband Internet access at speeds of 10-100 Mbps, providing up to 85% of the population with Internet services.

This work is currently implemented in two directions: the expansion of optical infrastructure in the regions of the country, and cooperation with regional countries on the establishment of new trunk lines and transformation of Azerbaijan into international Internet hub.

In particular, the state operator AzTeleKom plans to launch a new project for the development of broadband Internet in the regions starting from the next year. The project plans to optimize the optical lines running in major cities and administrative centers, as well as to ensure connection in other settlements with branched optical network with existing trunk lines.

The ministerial meeting on the Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway (TASIM) project was held in the course of Bakutel-2016. This project is also included in the State Program on Implementation of the National Strategy for Information Society Development in Azerbaijan for 2016-2020 years and is a key component of the new strategic roadmap.

"Turkey is actively cooperating with Azerbaijan, China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and other countries in order to accelerate the project. The TASIM consortium was established. The preparatory works to establish an uninterrupted fiber-optic highway from China to Europe extending to over 15 thousand kilometers are ongoing", said the Turkish Minister of Transport, Shipping and Communications, Ahmet Arslan.

In particular, the initiator of the project TASIM Azerbaijan expects to become a regional Internet hub that intends to secure considerable profits for the transit traffic and the provision of a variety of network services in the future.

As to the export potential of the network of services through the ICT sector in Azerbaijan, it is worth noting the recent opening of the Baku Regional DATA-centers and international switching center of the Ministry of Communications and High Technologies. The new DATA-center is the only facility in the South Caucasus, which meets all modern international standards and was awarded the international certificate of TIER III. It will ensure control over the security of continuous information transfer. The system will create virtual servers that meet the specific requirements of companies and enable them, if necessary, to get the infrastructure, as well as optimized network. This will allow companies to minimize capital expenditures to zero and reduce operating costs by 30-40%, increase productivity and business sustainability. The DATA-center also offers cloud-based IT-solutions and other services related to international traffic and certification.

Starting from 2017, the DATA-center will provide comprehensive public IT-services on regional level, which will give Azerbaijan an opportunity to become a regional operations center for the storage, processing and transmission of information, serving potential customers in the Caspian states, etc.

Azerbaijan is also important in terms of integration into the international telecommunications market through the use of space technologies. "The satellites Azerspace-1 and Azersky play an important role in the provision of satellite services in the region. The launch of Azerspace-2 as the second telecommunications satellite will significantly expand the potential of the space industry in Azerbaijan", stated President Ilham Aliyev at Bakutel-2016.

It is noteworthy that the country's space program is initially geared to provide export commercial services. Moreover, unlike the first satellite, 20% of the communication capacity used for the needs of Azerbaijan, Azerspace-2 is planned to provide resources almost entirely for foreign markets.

The launch of the second satellite is scheduled for the end of next year. Azerspace-2 service area will include about 50 countries in Europe, Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa.

The employment of low-orbit optical AzerSky technology is also very promising in terms of creating and maintaining the Land Cadaster, the prediction of efficiency of agricultural areas, oil industry, etc. A number of regional countries have shown interest in the potential of the remote sensing satellite AzerSky. In particular, Azerbaijan negotiates with the Kazakhstan National Company "Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary" (Kazkosmos). The commercial exploitation of the satellite AzerSky will significantly increase after the completion of the first phase of work on the establishment of low-orbit satellite control center.

Today, the ICT sector can be generally described as one of the most promising options to replenish the state treasury. Accordingly, it is also one of the most attractive areas for investment.