Azerbaijan ICT income to hit $8.5b a year in 2020: minister

The information and communication technology sector of Azerbaijan will bring to state coffers $8-8.5 billion a year by 2020, ICT Minister Ali Abbasov said on December 23.Addressing a conference titled "Azerbaijan 2013-2018. Targetting new goals", which was organized by the ruling New Azerbaijan Party, he added that the amount will make up nearly 10 percent of the country's GDP, Azartac reported."The public investment volume in the country's ICT sector is expected to hit $3-3.5 billion by 2020. The same amount of investment is expected to be made by the private sector," he said.Abbasov also spoke about the broadband Internet development project in Azerbaijan, "Fiber-to-home" programme, which will start in early 2014 and initially cover 2014-2016."Successful implementation of the project will increase the penetration rate of broadband Internet in the country to 85 percent," he said.At the initial stage, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan plans to allocate 103 million manat ($131 million) for its implementation.The cost of the project is estimated at more than 450 million manat ($573 million). The project is considered highly profitable. Some 30-35 percent of its total cost will be funded through reinvestment starting from the second year of implementation.The ministry plans to cover all regions of Azerbaijan with high-speed Internet by 2017.ANN.Az