Charges for local phone calls to be introduced 'soon'

Azerbaijan is to start charging for local phone calls soon, the minister for communications and information technology has said.

Ali Abbasov told journalists on Monday that charging was "the demand of the times"."The entire telephone network of Azerbaijan now works electronically.

As a result, the need arises to introduce a time-based system of payment for telephone calls which is the practice worldwide. We intend to introduce a [monthly] limit of 450 minutes of free conversations for incoming calls for one telephone line.

But there will also be a limit for outgoing calls [450 minutes] so the limit will be 900 minutes which is not bad for one telephone line. Every additional minute will cost one gapik [$0.013]," the minister said.

The move could well come as a blow to many, as local landline telephone calls have been free since the Soviet era, encouraging a culture of long telephone conversations.

Talking about the Internet, the minister said that Azerbaijan has between 20 and 30 Internet-providers.
He did not know the exact number of Internet-providers as they do not need a licence. Azerbaijan's Internet is half the price charged in developing countries, the minister continued.

He said that the average monthly Internet cost in Azerbaijan constituted 4% of the average salary.
ADSL connections in Baku cost between AZN 18 and AZN 25 per month, while dial-up remains cheaper.

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