On digital development of communications sector (CS) in Azerbaijan

It is customary in Azerbaijan that December 6, 1881 (when the first telephone line was put into operation in Baku by Nobel Brothers Oil Company) is the professional holiday of communications workers, although the word communication is not in the title of the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport (MDTT) supervising this sector.

Happy professional holiday for the telecommunication sector workers!            

It should be added that under the term telecommunication the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) of the United Nations implies the whole spectrum of communications (radio, telegraph, telephone (local and distant), television (including satellite), mobile phone, Internet...).

It should be acknowledged that the telecommunication is a sector of production, the product of which is the useful effect of activities in the form of transmission and reception of information by means of communication and philosophy that all consumers should be equal in their accessibility.

In the summer of 1992, when 25.000 telecommunications workers were employed in the Azerbaijan Ministry of Communications, the first state institution named AzTelekom (Azerbaijan's enterprise of long-distance and international communications uniting all telecommunications of the country) was founded. Then, there emerged other structures, including Ultel MMC (telecommunication company), Catel, AzEuroTel joint telecom enterprise, Bakcell and Azercell telekom (our mobile companies), Delta Telecom (Internet provider), etc.

Regretfully, along with the quite established term telecommunication, we also meet a Soviet (now Russian) term, almost forgotten variant - electrical connections. Apparently this difference could be eliminated if we had sectoral institutes of communication (training, research, design), established production in the communication sector (CC), or created the Transport and Communication University of Azerbaijan (as "three in one").

The history of development of CS in Azerbaijan is also interesting, including commissioning of the building of Baku Main Post Office (and Telegraph) in 1868, where today the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport (MDDT) is located at 77 Zarifa Aliyeva Avenue (old 33).

It should be remembered that since ancient times all over the world the main post offices were considered somewhere "kilometer zero" (km 0) - as a starting point for counting road distances in the countries and for setting tariffs for all kinds of communication and transport services.

In spite of the fact that the history of the postal service in Azerbaijan dates back to the 16 century (if not earlier), the establishment of a present-day form of postal communication in Azerbaijan began in Ganja (then Yelizavetpol) on June 1, 1818 as the first post office, later in 1826 in Nakhichevan, and by 1830 in Shusha, Shamakhy, Baku...

However, the country's branch - Post-Telegraph Agency (Ministry), was established on 6 October 1918 by the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) which should have been celebrated in our country as the country's communications workers' day (perhaps, as heirs of the ADR) https://mincom.gov.az/ru/view/pages/66/. In the former Soviet Union the professional holiday of communication workers - Day of Radio, Television and Communication was May 7 (on this day in 1895 the Russian physicist Popov A. S. demonstrated the radio).

Yes, commissioning of a splendid complex - postal and telegraphic building of Baku city Glavpochtamt (with postal, telegraphic, periodicals and later telephone communications) in 1868 was an event.

In the same year (February 6, 1868) Siemens established telegraphic line Tbilisi-Baku through Ganja with application of Morse device and in 1879 underwater 3-wire telegraphic cable Baku-Krasnovodsk (present Turkmenbashi city) was laid. https://www.baku.ru/enc-show.php?id=134407&cmm_id=276

After 114 years (February 2, 1982), a new building of Bakteleqraf and the Main Post Office (specialized, monolithic and multi-storey building at 41, Zarifa Aliyeva street, now 93) was erected in Baku, though today, we may be deprived of this demolished building (which could have functioned for hundreds of years), with well-established postal and telegraphic infrastructure of Azerbaijan. http://www.day.az/news/society/144725.html

After demolition of this new Main Post Office (Bakpochtamt) in 2009, it was transferred to a parallel street, on Uzeyir Hajibeyli street (near the current Pedagogical University), where was located the "House of Communications" (now Azərpoçta), on the ground floor and became Mərkəzi Poçt (Main Post Office). However, today the name Mərkəzi Poçt has been removed altogether and there is an inscription "Şəbəkə", which means "Network" (and what is it - telegraph, telephone, postal, radio and television, computer...?).     

At present, if we are talking about the communications sector (CS) of Azerbaijan, it can obviously be assessed as mediocre, as shown by the last 2020-2022, when the coronavirus in the country has revealed all our backlogs in resources and methods of distance education, electronic media, on-line trade and digital economy.

Probably the reason for this is the lack of a vision for the development of the entire communication sector adopted by the Milli Majlis (MM), although communication, like transport, is a strategic sector. Evidently, the new structure has to address the simple tasks as follows: inventory of CS assets (including the level of their digitalization), technical expertise of all CS designs, and elaboration of unified norms of technological design for communications of two sectors (transport and communications) united into an unified industry.

To all appearance, the time has come in Azerbaijan to recognize the philosophy and place of the telecommunications sector to improve the state of all other sectors of the economy, seeking maximum benefit from the CS, with its philosophy - equal access to all types of services for 10 million consumers of the country, regardless of their occupation and profession, age and gender, place of residence and distance from the capital Baku.

However, a fair question arises: what is the level of development of communication sector in Azerbaijan and most importantly, what was the price of digital development of CS during 30 years of the country's independence?

As a matter of fact, the beginning of digital development of Azerbaijani CS was laid not today, but somewhere forty years ago, at the end of the 1970s which is associated with digitalization of interstation lines on communication networks of the former Soviet Union and the introduction of digital transmission system (DTT) - intended for organization of digital channels to ensure transmission of digital data. We, in Baku, even had a factory of manufacturer - ULDUZ, and since the 1990s we passed to the introduction of digital switching systems (DSS) in Azerbaijan.

Since 1993 up to 10 digital switching systems (DSS) for local (urban and rural) and long-distance (intercity and international) communications: DMS-100, DMS-300, System-X, System-12, DAEWOO, Alcatel, and NGN, and for rural communication networks: Kvant, DRX-4, Karel, etc. have been installed. Although it would be logical and reasonable (technically and economically) to choose just a unified digital system, optimal for 10 million people in our country. However, it is mercantile interests dictated by the law - new tender - new system - new "cap", make it no possible for us to act with optimum logic.

Further we started the ICT project in 2003, then we bought a new generation network- NGN (the project sum was up to $ 1 bn with NGN coverage of the whole country), and finally in February 2013, Azerkosmos and our satellites (Azerspace), which must have cost the country not so cheap. However, the question arises, what is the efficiency factor, the payback of all wasted funds in the CS, and most importantly, where is the reduction of tariffs for Internet and services on the CS of Azerbaijan?       

Obviously, the level of development of economic sectors and digital development in Azerbaijan is assessed not by the fact that ready-made digital technologies are bought at the expense of natural resources (or by rising tariffs for the provided communication services), but by the efforts of national personnel capable of creating these technological developments themselves, as is done in Estonia, South Korea, Israel, Turkey...

Apparently, institutions need to train their own high-level telecommunications personnel so that the CS personnel are not recruited on the basis of nepotism and "proximity", but with qualifications much higher than those of the country's communications companies (lest we repeat the disgraceful autumn of 2015), with ten CS employees under investigation for two years.

It is time for joint international operators, ISPs and manufacturers in the country, otherwise things could happen as was the case with Bakteleqraf and Azeurotel, interfering with the natural development philosophy of the country's CS. Azerbaijan's involvement in the production of the newest digital technologies is also required, so as not to be mechanical users of these technologies, shifting the protection and security of the country's CS to foreign countries (they say that Microsoft Azerbaijan, representative of the world IT giant in our country, is closing https://haqqin.az/news/266093).

Therefore, it’d be appropriate to think about new jobs and generation of scientific potential in our country to thus be equal to the developed countries of the world. Indeed, the existence of educational, design and research communication institutions or at least by combining them three in one (for example creating them at the new Transport and Communications University of Azerbaijan), we could really prepare specialists for the digital development of our entire economy (and cease changing the name of the Ministry of Communications over and over again).

Apparently adding key words to the name of the Ministry of Communications: ICT, high technology, and now digital development (changing it three times), it is not a way out and not our merit (because we are not the creators of these technologies in the world), our CS only users of these technologies, and we acquire them at a considerable cost.  Apparently, therefore we have not come true even with such a necessary and crucial decree of the President of Azerbaijan as the establishment of the University of Information Technology since 1 February 2013. http://www.1news.as/chronicle/20130201070925638.html  

Evidently, it’d be unfair to Azeurotel joint venture (which could be the first privatized national telecom operator in the country), because privatization in the country started since March 29, 2001only.

Probably the transport and communication management of the country by non-state regulator (outside the state structures) is required for transparency and creation of dedicated networks in the country by any physical and legal entities of Azerbaijan to provide an alternative and competition, which probably would increase the quality and "last mile" (weak link in rural areas), fail-safety of communication and Internet in rural areas. Apparently, the existence of an independent regulator outside the state structures is the real guarantor of transparency of relations, interconnection and mutual settlement in the country, where apparently the dark sides and yet unaccountable incomes of the economy sectors are hidden.

It is, perhaps, the delay in privatization of the communications sector (CS) that deprives the communication workers of high salaries. Another problem is the lack of inventory, appropriation of areas of long-distance call centers, post offices, premises in the communication hubs of the country, not to mention the branches of departments, Soyuz Press shops, as well as unforgettable autumn 2015, etc. that makes it necessary for the CS to privatize everything anew.

This is probably why we have to remember Bakteleqraf which has been "run out of business", and talk about urban and rural telephony, which has never recovered since 1993 despite investments. Recall the "ICT Project" launched on 17 February 2003, where the concept of "E-government" was supposed to obtain documents and references from enterprises and organizations of the country around the clock, without involvement of officials. In all probability, we have nearly a closed service of mass collection of digital data in Azerbaijan, ASAN service, with an army of government officials and almost inexplicable high tariffs for all these services.

After all, it was not for nothing that UN Secretary-General António Gutiérrez warned about the dangers of mass digital data collection: "There is an enormous amount of information being collected about each of us. But we have no real access to this wealth of information. We do not know how this information is collected, by whom it is collected and for what purposes... Governments can use this data to control the behavior of their own citizens thus violating the human rights of individuals or entire groups. None of this is science fiction or dystopian forecast for the twenty-first century. It is happening here and now. And it needs to be seriously discussed." https://minval.az/news/124091276

Apparently transparent steps in the development of the communications sector (CS) are also required to ensure technical unity of digital communications equipment of the two sectors (transport and communications) and with unification of equipment in the unified transport and communications sector.

After all, no production, enterprise, business, science, culture, trade, distance learning, electronic media and generally the intellectual development of mankind is possible without digital development. In the CS, there was the autumn of 2015 (the IIB and Ministry of Communications case), the burden of which we apparently feel to this day, and digital development (like high info-communication technologies), applies not only to transport and communications, but to all sectors of the economy and state structures of the country without exception.

Therefore digital development should not be taken up by the new MDTT (without sectoral institutions of communication and production) but by the Cabinet of Ministers of Azerbaijan (to begin with), as the highest executive authority (at the level of deputy Prime Minister), create a Transport and Communications University of Azerbaijan ("three in one") and then start creating digital economy, financing, management, technical policy, distance education (DE), digital commerce ... with the help of its staff.

Of interest is the fact that many state structures in Azerbaijan (State Security Service, Ministry of Defense, Inferior Ministry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Border Troops, Customs ... etc.) have their own institutes (Academies) for training national personnel (which is very good), but the ICTD (successor of Ministries of Communication and Transport), which performs its services based on station, line, underground, ground and satellite facilities and performs information and communication links of all state structures.

All things considered, it is good that we can see a number of digital technologies (for example, Faber Optical Communication in Azerbaijan, in particular, the archival project of GPON (Gigabit Passive Optical Network) as an extension of the country's optical network, and in particular, the ability to connect to a package of "1 line - 3 services". At that, we need to work out our own national long-term concept of development of communications in view of technical policy; financing; management; commerce and human resources. After all, the goal of the concept "Azerbaijan 2020: A Look into the Future" was to double the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) over the next 8-10 years (https://president.az/files/future_ru.pdf), but how can we achieve this?