Azerbaijan inks radio spectrum management deal with Turkey
Azerbaijan has signed a radio spectrum management deal with Turkey in the Nakhichevan Autonomous Republic, which is an isolated enclave sitting between Iran and Armenia, but controlled by Azerbaijan. It has a small section that sits next to Turkey, where radio spectrum interference occurs.
According to Azerbaijani Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, Gulam Abdullayev, the parties signed a protocol on the equitable use of channels of the frequency spectrum 900 and 1800 MHz for GSM-communication. It will eliminate the crossing of the frequency and ensure the normal functioning of mobile communications in the border area.
Presently, the Azerbaijani and Turkish networks often interfere with each other along the border as the two countries do not coordinate spectrum usage. Abdullayev stated that the agreement will regulate the use of radio spectrum and significantly reduce interference with radio electronic facilities in border areas.
Azerfon plans to launch its 3G services in Azerbaijan by year- end
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Azeri mobile operator Azerfon will launch its 3G services by the end of 2009.
According to the general director of the company, Guido Helbich, the tests of the W-CDMA/HSPA network will be completed within 2 weeks after which the service will be made commercially available in the autonomous republic of Nakhchivan, Baku and Absheron. There are plans to extend the service in other regions too.
USD20 million has been invested so far by the telco in its 3 G network. Azerfon was awarded a 3 G license by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, for AZN11, 000 (USD13,600), early this month.
Azerbaijan calls for lowered mobile tariffs
Azerbaijan has taken a step further in lowering the mobile tariffs calling for greater savings for the consumers. According to Eliyar Temirov, officer of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies, the tariffs levied by operators, on an average, are higher that the tariffs in other nations. To offset the balance in the market and to prevent unfair competition, asymmetrical regulation is exercised in the international practice by to supporting a new entrant against the established incumbent service providers. Moreover, the mobile call prices may be reduced by cutting the fees that operators levy for switching callers between each other’s networks,†he added.
The ministry has talked about this to Azercell and Bakcell, convincing them to cut down the tariffs. The Tariff Council has given a green signal to the lowering of so-called termination rates that mobile operators can charge each other to connect calls between their networks within the antimonopoly policy.
Wireless Mobile Telecom Wireless News
