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Total subscriptions: 1,652,688 (2020)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 16.3 (2020 est.)
Total subscriptions: 10,344,300 (2020)
Subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 102 (2020 est.)
General assessment: A landlocked country with historically poor infrastructure; state control of telecom systems; progress with Digital Hub project despite economic contraction in 2020; government launched e-school and e-service programs; risk of delays in infrastructure and launch of new technologies, including 5G due to slow market demand; LTE supports most data traffic while mobile broadband subscribership grows rapidly; fixed-line broadband market has slight upward trend; Internet access is expensive and suffers from outages and intentional government disruption; importer of broadcasting equipment from Russia (2020)
Domestic: Teledensity of some 17 fixed-lines per 100 persons; mobile-cellular teledensity has increased to 107 telephones per 100 persons; satellite service connects Baku to a modern switch in its exclave of Naxcivan (Nakhchivan) (2019)
International: Country code - 994; the TAE fiber-optic link transits Azerbaijan providing international connectivity to neighboring countries; the old Soviet system of cable and microwave is still serviceable; satellite earth stations - 2 (2019)
Note: The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a significant impact on production and supply chains globally; since 2020, some aspects of the telecom sector have experienced downturn, particularly in mobile device production; many network operators delayed upgrades to infrastructure; progress towards 5G implementation was postponed or slowed in some countries; consumer spending on telecom services and devices was affected by large-scale job losses and the consequent restriction on disposable incomes; the crucial nature of telecom services as a tool for work and school from home became evident, and received some support from governments