Joint Venture accuses the officials of attempted monopolizing the telecommunication market
     The management of Azerbaijan-Britain JV AzEuroTel publicized information that on 1 March at 23:10 the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communication once again cut off AzEuroTel connection with the outer world. For the last 10 days this is the second case of illegal disconnection of international communication channels by the Ministry of Communication, - is said in the announcement.
    Let's remind you that on 16 February at 23:00 once the major portion of Azeri segment of Internet was blocked with the wide area network as a result of which Internet service provider AzEuroTel was to temporarily interrupt its activities.
Then the company specialists ascertained that one of the subdivisions of the Ministry of Communication cut off JV's fiber-optic communication cable via which Internet provider could exercise information interchange via satellite communications. Nearly the same happened on 1 March, AzEuroTel said. As early as on 2 March JV technicians by applying the latest technologies partly reestablished Exchange 492/497/437 subscribers' international network access. However the voice channels still remain cutoff. By the way this fact was confirmed by Nuri Akhmedov, General Director of AzEuroTel JV during his talk with Echo.
Meanwhile yesterday Echo managed to receive an official explanation of the incident from the Ministry of Communication press office. The Ministry of Communication doesn't bear responsibility for the breakdown of Exchange 492/497/437 subscribers' international telephone communication for unknown reasons. Immediately after fault detection the Ministry of Communication brought it to notice of the AzEuroTel management. Moreover it made a request to JV to offer its subscribers to use 107 telephone service for international calls till fault elimination. As was reported by Mushfig Amirov, Press Secretary of the Ministry of Communication, this is not our problem. According to him the fault originates from AzEuroTel structure. But AzEuroTel is not going to accept this and insists that the damage to AzEuroTel communications was caused intentionally.
    The main purpose of this unprecedented action of the Ministry of Communication is holding monopoly in telecommunications, ultimate interference in the activity of business corporations and removal of competitors from the market, is stressed in JV administration claim. With its actions the Ministry of Communication once again confirmed that it disregards and purposely roughly breaks the Decree of the President H. Aliyev On Prevention of Interference in the Development of Business Enterprising of 28 September 2002.
In AzEuroTel management opinion, the Ministry of Communication causes great material damage to entrepreneurs and the state that adversely affects the country image and demonstrates to potential investors in what conditions they can turn out to be while working in Azerbaijan.
    But the strangest is the conduct of the Ministry of Communication taking into account that it is well aware of AzEuroTel customers. Among this provider's customers are the Presidential Machinery, several ministries, embassies of leading western states, representatives of international organizations and banks in Baku.
Immediately after Internet connection interruption at night from 16 to 17 February an English envoy Mr. Andrew Tucker applied to AzEuroTel for explanation. In its reply letter AzEuroTel briefly stated the whole history and the core of the complicated relationship between the only independent provider in Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Communication. The letter states that in 1999 AzEuroTel several times unsuccessfully applied to the Ministry of Communication for a licence to provide international telephone communication services. Each time the authorities rejected a claim to issue a licence without explaining reasons. After that JV applied to the country's Economic court. The court decided the case in AzEuroTel favour and beginning from December 1999 AzEuroTel began to function as an international operator paying to the Ministry of Communication the licence fee in the amount of 600 million manats.
By the way as N. Akhmedov, General Director of AzEuroTel JV pointed, the issued licence is effective for 25 years.
AzEuroTel has its own satellite terminal that was installed in the territory of Exchange-50 dependent on the Ministry of Communication with the Ministry permit. Just here, as JV claims, their channels were twice (16 February and 1 March) cut off and their subscribers lost telephone and Internet connection.
Today JV has altogether 20 thousand users that makes only 3,5% of the whole number of international telephone connection users. We do not compete with the Ministry of Communication and its subdivision Aztelekom, says Nuri Ahkmedov, General Director, - It's even ridiculous to speak about it taking into account the difference in the number of our customers. But despite everything, AzEuroTel states, the Ministry of Communication as usual aims at complete monopolization of the Azeri telecommunication market and can't be resigned to JV's successful activity.

R. Orujov