"Fiber to the House" nears start in Azerbaijan

The implementation of the broadband Internet development project ("Fiber to the House") in Azerbaijan will start by late 2013, the Azerbaijani Communications and IT Ministry told on Thursday.

According to the ministry, a project that will initially cover 2014-2016, was approved by the Azerbaijani Cabinet of Ministers.

The Azerbaijani State Oil Fund plans to allocate 103 million manat to implement the project at the initial stage.

"Fiber to the House" is estimated at more than 450 million manat. The project is considered to be highly profitable. Around 30-35 per cent of its total cost will be financed through reinvestments beginning from the second year of its implementation.

According to the ministry's plans, all settlements of Azerbaijan will be provided with high-speed Internet until 2017.

The ultimate goal of the project is to provide the whole country, including remote rural settlements with high-speed Internet in the range of 10-100 Mbit / s and bring the number of broadband Internet users up to 85 percent. This will allow Azerbaijan to reach the level of the world developed countries by 2017.

At present, around 70 per cent of the population uses the Internet in Azerbaijan. The penetration rate of broadband Internet among the population is 50 percent.

Adapted from Today.az