"CONSULTING & BUSINESS" MAGAZINE # 05(84), 2004

     Azerbaijan-Great Britain Joint Venture "AzEuroTel" was established in 1995 by Azerbaijan Ministry of Communication and British Oil Company "LUKoil-Europe Ltd."
"AzEuroTel" is an operator of the modern digital Exchange 492/497/437 and one of the leading Internet Providers in Azerbaijan. Among "AzEuroTel" JV partners are "Teleport-TP", "Rostelecom", "Golden Telecom", Marconi Communications, CISCO Systems, Cable & Wireless, ECI Telecom, Newbridge Networks.
    For its 9-year activity at the Azerbaijan market AzEuroTel JV has taken one of the leading roles in the development of telecommunication services sector. AzEuroTel was the first in Azerbaijan to introduce digital Exhange, IP telephony services, trunking communication and Internet services. Progress achieved by the company proves its high quality performance.
    During its activity AzEuroTel JV has been awarded with several prizes among which is "EuroMarket-2003" award assigned by the European Trade Leaders Club.
    In 1998 Azerbaijan-Great Britain Joint Venture "AzEuroTel" was nominated for two prizes. For high quality image and level of provided services, AzEuroTel JV was awarded with "Award for the Best Trade Name" and "10th Golden America Award For Quality". In 2002 AzEuroTel JV was again awarded with "Award for the Best Trade Mark".
    On the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of the prize and coincidence of this date with the beginning of the new millennium, this prize was exclusively called as "Golden Prize for the Best Trade Name - New Millennium Award".
    Rewarding with such significant awards promoted the growth of Azerbaijan companies' image at the European market. Annually AzEuroTel JV represents Azerbaijan at high-class international telecommunication conferences and exhibitions on a level with the highest standards.
    Nuri Akhmedov, General Director of AzEuroTel JV told about the nearest and future plans of his company.

    Could AzEuroTel JV manage to realize its plans during its activity at the Azerbaijan market of telecommunication services?

Unfortunately not all projects planned have been realized. They were precluded by the barriers artificially created by the former management of the Ministry of Communications.

    Initially AzEuroTel JV planned to realize the reconstruction of time-worn Exchanges in the capital, but because of the barriers you told about, the operations were not implemented. Is AzEuroTel JV going to realize these plans in the near future or they have lost their actuality?

We are going to implement the reconstruction plans in the near furure, however not through our's fault Exhange-32 and Exhange-91 were excluded from the list.

    Does AzEuroTel consider the opportunity to provide fixed telecommunication services in the regions of the republic?

Certainly. At present we are considering the districts where to start the operations.

    AzEuroTel is one of the providers to participate in the project engaged in connecting Azerbaijan banks to SWIFT system. At what stage is the realization of the present project and what banks are already connected to this system for today?

Due to some system changes of SWIFT system the reconstruction and connection will be completed by the middle of July 2004. For today almost all Azerbaijan banks are connected to it via AzEuroTel JV using our technical facilities.

    How popular are IP-telephony services provided to Exhange-492/497/437 subscribers via prepaid cards and how many users do you have for today?

IP-telephony services have gained great popularity, especially among non-sufficiently provided sections of the population, retirees, students, housewives, as the tarrifs for them are essentially lower than the tariffs of traditional telephony. As well as these services are a success among AzEuroTel corporate clients who have a lot of phone talks due to their activities. However IP-telephony services can be used only by Exhange-492/497/437 subscribers.

    Joint Venture intended to establish IP-payphones in the city centre. What did hinder this process?

Yes, we actually were going to establish IP-payphones in Baku. These IP-payphones were established at our stand during BakuTel-2003 exhibition enabling the exhibitors to use them. However the realization of our plans was prevented by the former management of the Ministry of Communications that as I marked above precluded the development of this kind of services at the telecommunication market of Azerbaijan.

    Is AzEuroTel planning to introduce new Internet services?

As many other operators we are climbing to use modern and effective technologies for subscribers servicing such us IP-cards and high-speed Internet access via tradition telephone lines: ADSL and SDSL. Currently one of the most updated services is in process of implementation. This service is next generation network (NGN) service, which allows to introduce IP-telephony and multi-media services (video-conference, instant message exchange, video on demand, etc.) for home and corporate users. In other words, we intend to fulfill broadband access on the base of single convergent platform for voice and data transmission as well as high-speed packet transports NGN network.

    Will be tariffs on Internet services reduced in the nearest future?

Yes, new technologies implementation allows us to base on active and cost-effective solutions. Consequently reducing operating costs, we will be able to carry out the reasonable policy on price-cutting for Internet services.

    Is AzEuroTel planning to make additional investments in telecommunication development of Azerbaijan Republic?

AzEuroTel JV always desires to make investments in Azerbaijan telecommunications, but unfortunately, due to destructive policy of the Ministry of Communication ex-administration it was impossible.

    Does AzEuroTel JV have any plans to start providing cellular communication services?

No, this is not part of our plans.

    What is the prospect of telecommunication market development in Azerbaijan?

Today, the telecommunication market endures the peculiar revolution.
New services and growing capacity of transmitting information, where data traffic plays dominant role, require new facilities' implementation.
Operator's objective is to create multipurpose networks that will be able to provide users with unlimited range of services.
Tradition services on voice communication provision are less and less requesting and income from their realization is reducing.
Despite the fact that, modern telecommunication networks operate and provide users with Global Information Internet Network access and other telematic services within major industry centers of Azerbaijan and specifically Baku, the problem of broadband high-speed subscriber's access still exist ant its solution require significant investments.
Investment activity analysis for telecommunication companies of different countries demonstrates the fact that advanced develop countries continue making investments in telecommunication industry in spite of high indexes of line exploitation's economic effectiveness and close to saturation level telephone density.
For developing and underdeveloped countries, like ours is, investment needs are vital and capital attraction issue is the main task of national significance.
Also, along with the up-dating and development of old and obsolete equipment as well as the improvement of today's provided services of tradition network quality, and taking into consideration the development trends of the global telecommunication market, the tendency directed to the next generation services provision will be gradually realized in Azerbaijan.

    As Mr. F. Aliyev, Minister of Economic Development marked, within the nearest future it is expected the privatization process of AzEuroTel JV. What are the results of AzEuroTel JV's evaluation and whether foreign founder of AzEuroTel readies to acquire the state share of JV?

This issue is under the consideration.

What is the first action of AzEuroTel after the completion of privatization process?

AzEuroTel JV will be developing!