M. van Klaveren, K.G. Tijdens, M. Hughie-Williams and N.E. Ramos Martin
2.2. Communication
Adequate communication facilities are absolutely essential for the DECISIONS FOR LIFE project. Az-
erbaijan has been making progress in recent years in developing its telecom sector, but it still faces problems.
The coverage of fixed telephone connections per 1,000 of the population have increased considerably, from
86 in 1990 via 98.4 in 2000 to 154.5 in 2008 (ADB 2009a). The general assessment is that the infrastructure
is poor and requires considerable expansion and modernization. Moreover, the Ministry of Communica-
tions & Information Technologies (MCIT), as well as being an operator through its role in Aztelekom, is
both a policy-maker and a regulator, mostly regarded an unlikely combination (wikipedia Azerbaijan; CIA
World Factbook). In Azerbaijan, too, very clearly the future is on cellular telephone services, including pos-
sible access to mobile Internet. The number of cellular phones in use in the 2000s has grown extremely
rapid, from 51.6 per 1,000 of the population in 2000 to 767.3 per 1,000 in 2008, or over 6.5 million cell
phones (ADB 2009a; CIA World Factbook). In 2007 99% of the population was covered by mobile cellular
networks. In that year the average mobile phone use was a relatively low 78 minutes per user per month.
With USD 15.10 per month, the price basket for mobile service was still high, nearly threefold the price bas-
ket for residential fixed line service: USD 5.30 (World Bank 2009a). There are three GSM mobile network
providers: Azerfon (Nar Mobile), Bakcell and Azercell (wikipedia Azerbaijan).
According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2008 the share of Internet users had grown to 181 per 1,000
of the population, as it noted 1,485,000 Internet users on a population of 8.2 million. One may safely as-
sume that currently about one in five Azerbaijani is using the Internet, though outside the Baku capital
Internet penetration remains low. The government generally does not restrict access to the Internet, but
requires Internet service providers to be licensed and have formal agreements with MCIT. It has been
oberved that at times the government has blocked websites, mostly related to NGOs monitoring elections.
It has also been reported that electronic media are rather susceptible to pressure due to their reliance on
government-provided broadcast licenses. They are regarded less critical of the government than opposition
and independent printed media (US Dept of State 2009, 2010). By 2009, the country had 7,045 Internet
hosts, and by December 2008 a rather low 1.6 secure Internet servers per 1 million people (CIA World
Factbook; World Bank 2009a). The website of the Azerbaijan Gender Information Center (AGIC) provides
a massive amount of information on all kinds of women’s and gender issues in the country, also in English.
The AGIC coordinates training programs and undertakes research in selected areas.
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