Monopolists Sell Internet Like Tomatoes at the Market

The monopolists of the Azerbaijani internet services market, LLC Aztelekom and LLC Baktelekom, have agreed to raise the minimum monthly internet package price from 18 AZN for 40 Mbps to 25 AZN for 100 Mbps starting August 15. Explaining the new price, these companies want to convince the public that the price has dropped since the internet speed will increase by 2.5 times, thus reducing the cost per Mbps from 45 qapik to 25 qapik. There is no information about the technical innovations in the company that will ensure high traffic speed.

The undeniable fact is that internet traffic will no longer be sold for 18 AZN (except for a narrow category of the population with benefits). Payment will start at 25 AZN. The population is deprived of the choice to purchase internet at the current price and with the current traffic speed. The poor part of the population is satisfied with the current tariff and traffic, while those who want 4G speed (100 Mbps) could pay 25 AZN and above. But this will be impossible from August 15.

The public is dissatisfied. Lawyer Mamed Salimov calls what is happening a deception and depriving the population of the right to choose. He urges citizens to send collective complaints to the government about Aztelekom so that tomorrow this company does not want to raise the price to an arbitrary 50 AZN.

Others recall that when these same companies increased the cost from 10 AZN to 18 AZN, they also promised to drastically improve the quality of communication. But they deceived, and the quality of the internet remained unsatisfactory. People remembered similar propaganda techniques when increasing the cost of public transportation: the price rose without any change in service quality.

"Aztelekom is charging ahead, their arguments are illogical and not based on facts," writes Osman Gunduz, director of the Multimedia Information Systems Technology Center, on his Facebook page.

What is happening demonstrates that there is no independent regulator in the country's telecommunications market. The Agency for Information and Communication Technologies, which is supposed to protect consumer interests, is not independent. Aztelekom is not afraid of the Ministry of Information Technologies and the agency subordinate to it, nor is it afraid of the Antimonopoly Service, with which it is litigating for this very reason, the expert believes.

Osman Gunduz reports that Aztelekom, with its technical capabilities, cannot provide a minimum traffic speed of 100 Mbps. He is confident that even 40 Mbps is beyond Aztelekom's capabilities. The expert compares Aztelekom's maneuver with the new prices and traffic to deceiving buyers in the market, where the seller offers a product at a cheap price but shortchanges the buyer.

The expert suggests that LLC Aztelekom explain the justification for the new price, for the first time revealing the cost of the traffic it buys on the international market and the volume of sales to the population, indicating the quantity and needs of the population. And that government control services conduct their investigation into the monopolist Aztelekom and uncover the unimaginable difference between the profits and expenses of this state-owned company.