Creation of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies
Against the background of rapidly development of high technologies, President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on February 20, 2004 on abolishing the Ministry of Communications and establishing on its basis Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies.
It was an important step taken for future development of this sphere and creation opportunities for every citizen to enjoy modern information communications technologies. The development of ICT and its comprehensive application became one of major directions of Azerbaijan Republic on the way of forming a new high technology and knowledge-based economy.
Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, being responsible state body for this field and coordinator of relevant State Program, organized many-branched activities in the direction of upgrading of telecommunications infrastructure, application of new technologies, improvement of regulating functions, regulation and liberalization of ICT market as well as enhancement of production potential of this sphere.
2004
- On August 1, Baku city telephone network changed over to 7-digit numbering system
2005
- Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan “On Telecommunications” was adopted on June 14
- On October 1, NGN- new generation of network equipment was introduced in Baku for the first time in Azerbaijan and CIS space.
- On December 30, Azerfon LLC was granted a special permit (license) for the organization of GSM mobile service. Thus, the third operator entered the market of mobile communication.
2006
- President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed an order to establish a professional holiday of workers in the field of communications and information technologies. December 6 was announced a professional holiday of workers in the field of communications and information technologies.
2007
- Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev declared the use of information and communication technologies in Azerbaijan a priority sector at a conference held on February 13, 2007, on the occasion of the third anniversary of the state program on “Socio-economic development of Azerbaijani regions (in 2004-2008)”. More and more attention has been paid to the development of this sector since then, application of information technologies in all spheres of life is of great importance for the government, because today ICT plays the role of catalyst of competitiveness and economic growth.
2008
- Remote and small settlements of Azerbaijan were supplied with telephones for the first time in the post-soviet area.
- A software for speech recognition in the Azerbaijani language was created as part of project DILMANC.
2009
- Implementation of the project “National Computer” was launched to increase computerization level in the country.
- On December 21, 64th session of the UN General Assembly passed a resolution related to Trans-Eurasian Information Super Highway.
- Azerbaijan started to establish its space industry.
2010
- The electronization process of telephone network in the country’s regions was fully completed.
- Azercosmos OJSC was established.
- Post offices started rendering new banking-financial services.
2011
- Important work was done in the direction of building e-government in the country, state agencies started providing e-services.
2012
- State Fund for Development of Information Technologies was established.
- On November 5, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev signed an order on establishment of High Technologies Park.
2013
- 2013 was declared The Year of Information and Communication Technologies in Azerbaijan by Decree № 2664 of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated January 16.
- On February 5, President of the Republic of Azerbaijan signed a decree on approving the Regulations on the portal e-government and measures to increase electronic services.
- On February 8, within the framework of the Year of ICT the first satellite of the Republic of Azerbaijan - Azerspace-1 was launched into orbit from Kourou, the Space Center of French Guiana.
- The Regulations on the State Fund for Development of Information Technologies under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, as well as the Rules for the use of the funds were approved by Presidential Decree dated 2 April.
- The Regulations on the Electronic Security Center under the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies was approved by decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan dated March 5, as well as Azerbaijani President issued a decree on the activity of the Electronic Security Center.
- Mobile Device Registration System was established and began operating on May 1.
- Online registration of domain names was launched on October 2.
- Having moved 5 positions forward Azerbaijan ranked 56th among 144 countries on Networked Readiness Index in The Global Information Technology Report 2013 of the World Economic Forum.
- According to the report, Azerbaijan is the leader among the CIS countries and Central Asia for the number of Internet users, as well as the country ranked 8th in “Government’s success in supporting ICT” among 144 countries, 9th position for “The importance of ICT in future outlook of the Government”, 20th - in the index “Internet access”.
- In The Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014 of the World Economic Forum, Azerbaijan ranked 39th for the “Global Competitiveness Index” among 148 countries and compared to previous year’s ranking, having moved 7 spots forward, Azerbaijan maintained its leading position in the CIS compared to the last year’s rating.
- Moving 7 steps forward in comparison with the previous report Azerbaijan ranked 61st for “ICT Development Index” (IDI) among 157 countries in the report “Measuring the Information Society-2013” of International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
- In general, large-scale measures were taken to develop the sector in 2013, positive results were obtained, and from this point of view the Year of Information and Communication Technologies was a memorable event.