Azerbaijan

Telecommunications in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan (Azərbaycan), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The Azerbaijani exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, and Turkey in the north west.

The first 3G network was deployed in 2009 by Azerfon (Nar). This was followed by years of rapid development of mobile broadband networks. 4G LTE was first launched in 2015.

Region
CIS
Western Asia
Government Policy
Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan
ITU Region
Region-1
Spectrum Regulator
Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan world map

ITU Analysis

For mobile-broadband penetration and coverage Azerbaijan is among the leaders in the CIS region. The prices for mobile and fixed telecommunication services are relatively low and continue to decline. 

The ICT sector in the country is one of the most developed in the CIS region. According to national plans, the focus will be on high-speed optical fibre and wireless access network construction, deployment of an IMS (IP multimedia subsystem), increasing transit capacity, and the development of data-centres and satellite communications. According to latest ITU data (June 2018) mobile coverage reaches 96.3% of the population, and 4G LTE also accessible by 42% of Azerbaijanis.