Azerbaijan to Supply Itself With Fiber Optics

Azerbaijan reduces its dependence on foreign optical fiber, as Sumgayit Technology Park will supply Aztelekom Production Association with fiber optic cable.

The Technology Park has signed a contract with Aztelekom, the Park reported. Deliveries are expected in the framework of the development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijan.

The work on the project will start at the beginning of the second half of this year. The project is financed by Amsterdam Trade Bank. The amount of funds allocated by the bank for the project is 13.7 million euros.

Sumgayit Technologies Park launched production of fiber optic cables in the end of 2014. The production of the Park will be making it possible to fully meet domestic demands.

The main advantage of local producers is an acceptable price for customers - about 30 percent less than the price of imported foreign analogues.

Today, the Sumgayit Technologies Park is the only manufacturer of this type of production in Azerbaijan. All products are created here using European technology and equipment.

Cable products, including fiber optic, coaxial and LAN-cables, account for 15 percent of the total volume of production at the Park. The production capacity of the company is nearly 20,000 tons per year.  At present, Sumgayit Technology Park produces about 10,000 types of cables.

Moreover, the production of 500-kv cables at the Park will allow Azerbaijan to take leadership in the region and in the CIS in general, because production technology has not yet been established in the countries of the former Soviet Union.

The demand for fiber optic cables is expected to increase substantially in the country with the implementation of the project for development of broadband Internet in Azerbaijani regions.

The project for national broadband Internet development will be with the support of the State Oil Fund. The cost of the 'Fiber to the home' project is estimated at more than 450 million manats ($573 million).

The project is considered highly profitable. Around 30-35 percent of its total cost will be financed through re-investments beginning in the second year of its implementation.

The ultimate goal of the project is to provide the country, including remote rural settlements, with high-speed Internet in the range of 30-100 Mbit/s, and to increase the number of broadband Internet users up to 85 percent from the current 70 percent.

At present, the penetration rate of broadband Internet among the population is 50 percent.

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