Azernews.Az

By Mirsaid Ibrahimzade

Azerbaijan is making further progress in the ICT sector, in particular, in the space technology sphere.

Being the only satellite operator in the Caucasus, Azercosmos launched Azerspace-1 on February 8, 2013, which became the first ever satellite of Azerbaijan. With its high-skilled personnel and advanced technical capacity, Azercosmos has succeeded in becoming one of the driving forces of the ICT sector both in the country and region during the short period since its inception.

Serdar Huseyn Yildirim, the newly appointed head of Turkish Space Agency, has said that the Agency intends to cooperate with Azerbaijan in the space technology sphere.

He noted that Azerbaijan is experienced in the space technology. Yildirim added that the Agency also plans to cooperate with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

Turkish Space Agency is a government agency for national aerospace research in Turkey. Established in December 2018 and headquartered in Ankara, the Agency is subordinated to the Ministry of Industry and Technology.

Strategic development plans of Azercosmos include enhancing the coverage area and spectrum of services provided. For this purpose, on September 25, 2018, Azercosmos launched its second telecommunications satellite Azerspace-2 in a geostationary orbit of 45 degrees East longitude.

As for statistics, according to the Center for Economic Reforms Analysis and Communication, Azercosmos’ revenues from the commercial exploitation of satellites in January-May 2019 amounted to $16.1 million and showed a growth by 46 percent in comparison with the same period of 2018.

In the reporting period, Azercosmos’ services were exported to 18 countries. The majority of the company's services accounted for the U.S. ($4.8 million), Malaysia ($4.2 million), France ($4 million), the Great Britain ($1.6 million) and the United Arab Emirates ($640,000).

According to the Center, revenues from the export of services during the reporting period amounted to 88 percent of the total revenues of Azercosmos in January-May 2019.

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Mirsaid Ibrahimzade is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @MirsaidIbrahim1

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