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 | | www.azerbaijantoday.az |
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| By Kamran Guliyev |
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Life and the Internet are integrated for millions of people the world over. One can even order breakfast from an internet catering service, execute banking operations, send flowers and greeting cards - you name it: "if it can't be done on-line, then likely it can't be done."
Countries of the former Soviet Union were late comers to the web but soon caught up with the rest of the surfing horde. The economic benefit has been a windfall to www.com companies. And real changes are already noted in many developing countries as a result of technology of the web. Politicians are afraid in some instances of Internet freedom. Yahoo.com and Hotmail.com turned to be not the only free mail services as Russia, doubtlessly a leader in post-Soviet area in IT sector, came up with numerous high quality websites like Rambler.ru and Mail.ru. Azerbaijan, as the world now knows, is planing to be totally integrated into the world's money flow. The famous oil deal entitled "Century Contract" is hailed as the way of the future for Azerbaijan and the region.
Is the Internet really open for society in terms of quality and price. Many can remember a time in the not-so-distant past users of the internet had to pay upwards of five dollars an hour to Intra Network Systems, knows as Intrans!!! The reason was obvious - no competition, no other ways to get connected. Even now the quality of many providers is not ready for the challenge.
Times have changed somewhat and there are new names and faces. Among them were Azeurotel, Adanet, Azerin, while Azeronline became the latest provider to join the big four, making the big five - counting the above-mentioned Intrans too! The result has been a drop in price and improvement in service. While internet providers became more price wise, this does not mean the quality improved correspondingly. Advertising campaigns are often used to compensate for short comings.
Website design and servicing has also developed as a cottage industry for many local companies.
Just a few years ago a well-designed website could cost 500 dollars and even more. Dynamic sites were almost out of reach for many companies. Few good websites like bakililar.az, azerinet.com and top.az were top of the line with music portal, forums, pictures, news, chat, people find service, free e-mail, competitions etc.
One of the most popular moods providing chat service - IRC channels brought many to Internet clubs and PC stores in Azerbaijan to the Internet clubs and to PC stores. Chat and sex sites lead to an increase in PCs sales. IRC chat mania was overshadowing ICQ, AOL, MSN and Yahoo messengers. E-mails and computers are not secure and security is becoming more difficult to maintain with hackers in abundance.
On line credit card payments is something that needs to be implemented. Communication, banking, social service payments were still made outside the web. Many countries have switched to non-cash payments for services. Transactions are made through credit and debit cards. Since 1996 two Azerbaijani banks started issuing plastic debit and credit cards, while now there are approximately 10 providing this service. The AzeriCard was among the leader as the first in having a card processing payment center.
It is to early to claim that Azerbaijan is well wired - or to say "seriously involved". Reasons are simple: there is not any real government support for training in programming and computer hardware learning centers. Little thought is given to education for the average citizen. The low quality and high cost of Internet services is a barrier.
Dedicated 64Kps Internet access in Baku cost 13 times more than 256Kps cable or DSL connections do in the United States. Yes, it is true USA is the most internet and communication developed country. But the logic leads to nowhere, whereas our local dedicated connection is copper and cost much more than UTP or DSL phone-line cable connections as in the US.
There is logic to such problems, i.e., government authorities see little advantage in being well-connected (internet wise). Internet powers democracy and the freedom of speech. National interests can wait!!!
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