THE BAKU CROSSWAYS

Information and communication technology (ICT) in Azerbaijan is steadily shifting towards the integration of local projects into the global market. This comes after a difficult path of internal development: the creation and promotion of space business, spreading of mobile technologies of the fourth and perspective fifth generation, development of infrastructure for broadband communications, establishment of DATA center, etc.

With the development of ICT as a priority, Azerbaijan is ready to join forces with Russia, Turkey, Iran and other countries in the region to promote the mega-project Trans-Eurasian Super Information Highway (TASIM), the development of IT start-ups, and cooperation in cybersecurity.

All these key trends and perspective directions of domestic ICT sector were presented at the annual BakuTel-2017 international exhibition.

When our ships plow the expanses of the Universe...

For many years, such influential institutions as the UN and ITU have supported the telecommunication forum in Baku. Recently, the Global Association of the Exhibition Industry (UFI) awarded BakuTel confirming high standards of its organization.

The traditional guests of the exhibition are President Ilham Aliyev and First Vice President Mehriban Aliyeva, who were presented the latest technological achievements.

President Aliyev also shared very important information: "Currently, Azerbaijan is preparing to place the next telecommunication satellite into orbit".

According to the representatives of Azerkosmos, the launch of the second Azerspace-2/Intelsat-38 satellite is tentatively scheduled for April-May 2018. The company signed a multi-million contract ($191.36 million) with SpaceSystems/Loral (SSL) for the production of Azerspace-2. According to the agreement between Azercosmos and Intersat, Azerspace-2 will be located at the orbital position of 45 degrees east longitude and will cover the regions of Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The launch of the second telecommunication satellite will allow Azerkosmos to cover the growing needs of regional countries in satellite capacities. Unlike the first satellite, which provides 20% of its communication capacity for the needs of Azerbaijan, Azerspace-2 resources are planned almost entirely for the foreign market. This approach should ensure high profitability. It is expected that the investment recovery in the second communications satellite will require only five-six years.

There are good reasons for such optimism. During the operation of the first Azerbaijani satellite (four years), the revenues of Azerkosmos reached $80 million. This is based on extensive international cooperation, through which Azerspace-1 provides services to television and radio companies, state institutions, telecommunications companies in Malaysia, Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Egypt, Georgia, the UAE, Turkey, Lebanon, Cameroon, UK, etc.

Superhighway for super-Internet

The principle of regional and international cooperation is also based on the implementation of another large-scale project initiated by Azerbaijan, TASIM.

Supported by the United Nations, this international megaproject became the most important topic of conferences and meetings at BakuTel-2017. In particular, Baku hosted a high-level meeting on TASIM, the seminar "Accelerating the implementation of the Asia-Pacific Information Highway and the Trans-Eurasian Information Superhighway".

Under TASIM, it is planned to cover more than twenty countries in Europe and Asia - from Frankfurt to Hong Kong - with a high-speed information network: this project was initiated by Azerbaijan about nine years ago. The most important milestone in the development of the project was the signing of the Baku Memorandum of Understanding on the implementation of the TASIM project in 2013. The document was the starting point for the establishment of the consortium. It outlines the contours of the further implementation of the project, and also defines the powers and roles of participants, their financial obligations and legal statuses.

Over the years, Russian companies Rostelecom, KazTransCom, TurkTelecom, China's ChinaTelecom, as well as Azerbaijan's AzInTelekom were involved in the implementation of this initiative. During the first stage (completed), the leading countries of the region and operators have attracted communication companies ready to invest in the main transit Internet infrastructure connecting the West with the East. At the second stage, implemented under a UN mandate, it is planned to ensure Internet connection at acceptable rates for Eurasian countries that do not have direct access to international communication hubs (Internet nodes).

Despite the ongoing global energy crisis and financial problems, which have slightly delayed the project implementation, the involved countries are going to accelerate the processes of infrastructure development and to start commercial exploitation of the TASIM potential.

"The implementation of Trans-Eurasian Super Information Highway will improve the quality of the Internet and economic development not only in the countries participating in this project, but throughout Eurasia. In September 2017, the regular meeting of the working group was held in Almaty, Kazakhstan. This year, we held meetings in various formats where we discussed the TASIM project. I am glad that there is no serious disagreement between the participating countries on the implementation of the project," said Minister for the Transport, Communications and High Technologies of Azerbaijan Ramin Guluzade during his speech at the second high-level meeting on TASIM project under BakuTel-2017.

Taxes on Facebook

TASIM will strengthen Azerbaijan's position as an information hub of the Caspian region and, in particular, will promote further opportunities for transit of international IP traffic and services through DATA centers. This direction is seen as very promising and is being actively developed by Azertelecom LLC, Azerbaijan, which created the largest DATA-center in the region. Its potential allows Azerbaijan to render services to neighboring countries to optimize the delivery, storage and transfer of Internet content.

Incidentally, AzerTelecom’s DATA-center already hosts servers of such global companies as Google and Facebook, and this process continues. "Considering the constantly growing demand for Facebook in our country, I believe that the arrival of global communications companies in Azerbaijan is a correct and very useful undertaking. In the future, by attracting to tax revenues from Facebook and other IT companies to Azerbaijan, it is possible to promote the development of digital entrepreneurship in Azerbaijan, which will provide new opportunities for the development of the Internet in our country," believes the head of the Internet forum of Azerbaijan Osman Gunduz.

Regional and global integration in the development of IT technology covers a number of other areas. Thus, various proposals on cooperation of Azerbaijan, Russia, Turkey, Belarus and a number of European countries for joint production of high-tech products and the development of IT start-ups were voiced during BakuTel-2017.

For Azerbaijan, innovative production is still a relatively new direction but it is cnsiderably supported by the state with some initial results achieved recently. For instance, the scientists of the Research Center for High Technologies under the Ministry for the Transport, Communications and High Technologies presented a sensor-alarm made of carbon monoxide developed using carbon nanotubes. The center has also developed anti-radar coating based on carbon nanotubes, which makes the object invisible to most radar systems. Azerbaijani start-ups also presented other developments: a prototype tactile keyboard that can work with any layout keyboard, as well as an interactive device called Brailleteach, designed for children with poor eyesight and allowing a simple and convenient way to learn Braille alphabet. All these developments have been highly appreciated by experts and negotiations are currently underway for international participation in the process of organizing their mass production.

Azerbaijan is also highly active in international cooperation to ensure cybersecurity. In particular, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) highly appreciates the contribution of Azerbaijan and Russia to ensuring cybersecurity at international level.

Furthermore, ITU experts believe that Azerbaijan's level of development in IT sector ranks the country among the developed and developing countries. In fact, Azerbaijan is included in the ten most dynamically developing countries of the world for high results in ICT development for the last five-seven years. ITU experts noted that Azerbaijan is ranked the 65^th of 176 countries for the development of information and communication technologies. At the same time, Azerbaijan is the leading country of the South Caucasus. New projects and initiatives will help maintain this leading position for many years to come.