History

1970 - 1980

• Major development era of communication in Azerbaijan happened in the 70-80s. Special attention to this field by Heydar Aliyev who led the country those years is widely reflected in the official documents of those years. Issue regarding the state of communication means in the republic and actions for future development was raised on June 24, 1970 in the office of Central Committee on the initiative and under leadership of Heydar Aliyev and historical decision was made. The decision considered state of phone communication unsatisfactory in Baku, Sumgayit, Ganja cities, noted in a number of regional centers manual phone stations are in use, half of state farms and 25% of collective farms supplied with telephones, set development and improvement of communication means as one of most important duties of Communications Ministry.
• Construction of buildings for 16 communication centers in 1971-75, construction of ATE buildings by city executive committees, including  construction of 1 ATE building in Baku yearly, purchase of ATE equipment and construction of technological equipment by Communications Ministry, allocation of required funds for all this and implementation of other important measures were included in the decision.
• In 1976 power of Baku Telephone network was increased over 20 times in comparison with 1927, phone had become an integral part of life of people in Azerbaijan.
• In 1970-80s communication developed not only in Baku in regions as well. These years 5-floor special communication building was commissioned in Ganja where ATE with 8000 numbers, intercity ATE and telegraph and radio equipment was installed, ATE with 9000 numbers in Sumgayit, the one with 5000 numbers in Nakhchivan were commissioned, construction of ATEs in other cities and regions was implemented.
• A duty was set before Communications Ministry of the republic to build ATEs with 164,4,000 numbers and mounting issues in 1974-1980s.A plan  in connection with the construction and commissioning of new ATEs was approved, and it  allowed to obtain new achievements in the field of communications.
• The volume of the installed telephones in republic in 1980 was 279,1,000 numbers, 274,12,000 of which were  mini ATEs.
• Total number of subscribers of the city phone system was 234,7,000, which  was 1.4 times more in comparison with 1975.
• Those years mail, telegraph and TV-radio transmission developed much. The construction of Baku Railway Post Office, Communications House, buildings for communication centers in regional centers and more than 300 post office buildings were built then.
• Project of 310-meter New TV Tower that was to be built near old TV tower in Baku was approved by the commission created on the initiative of Heydar Aliyev in 1979 and construction started on October 1981. But because of some reasons commissioning of the unit was delayed and only after second arrival of national leader Heydar Aliyev to the leadership in the republic the tower was commissioned.