Azerbaijani Operator Expands Underground Mobile Coverage

Azerbaijani mobile operator, Azercell says that it has started expanded its mobile phone coverage on the underground railway serving the capital city, the Baku Metro to all the train stations of the subway network. Back in 2000, when Azercell has started to extend its coverage area to all Baku Subway stations for the first time in Azerbaijan, its subscribers got the possibility to have phone talk standing on the waiting platform of subway stations. Gradually, escalators had been also entered its coverage area of the mobile operator.

Since then, coverage has been extended to not only on waiting platforms and escalators, but also in entrance and exit points of subway stations, including all tunnels long in the result of the project implemented this year.

Azercell Telecom has increased the number of its radio base stations across the country and recently, it will install its 1,500th base station.

According to figures from the Mobile World subscriber tracker, Azercell is the largest mobile subscriber in the country and ended September with just under 3.4 million customers. This represents a market share of around 67% in a country with a population penetration level of 62%.

The Baku Metro was first opened in 1967, during the time of the Soviet Union, it has the features found in most other ex-Soviet systems, including very deep central stations, and exquisite decorations that blend traditional Azerbaijani national motifs with Soviet ideology. At present the system has 30.2 kilometres of bi-directional track with 21 stations.

On the web: Mobile World - Azercell

Posted to the site on 19th December 2008