Denis Opudo
In 1996, Azercell founded the Azerbaijan Azercell Telecom LLC. The company was the pioneer of the mobile communication industry. It was also the largest non-oil sector investor. The company network covered 99.8% of the country’s population and 80% of the territories. Currently, more than 4.5 million people use Azercell services across the country. The company also initiated the development of many innovations in Azerbaijan. The innovations include advance payment system, and 24/7 call center service. Others comprise of mobile internet services, 7 days/week and Front Office service. Extra innovations were GSM technology, Metro coverage, Online Customer Care among others.
Azercell also launched Barama Innovation and Entrepreneurship Centre in 2009. The main aim of this initiative was to support Azerbaijan’s entrepreneurship. The center helps startups to develop into successful business ventures in the region. Azercell also developed Azerbaijan’s first 4G – LTE services in 2012. According to the Testmy.net and Open signal report, Azercell’s network was the best.
PASHA Bank and Azercell Telecom supported Azerbaijani’s Seedstars Summit events. The events took place in Lozanna, Switzerland. Out of 60 participants, only 12 startups qualified for the $1,000,000 final competition. The “Wake Me Up” project which won last year’s qualifying round represented Azerbaijan. The device prevents accidents and subscribers from sleeping using innovative glasses.
The device operates by receiving signals from sensors on the glasses. The Swiss-based Seedstars is a group of companies with an aim of improving people’s lives. It uses entrepreneurship and technology as the trends of reaching out people. The startup’s initiatives such as scouting and acceleration programs attracted many entrepreneurs. Most of the participants were government officials, incubators, corporations & investors from many countries. This year’s competition attracted more than 75 countries from Africa, Asia, and Europe. The topics discussed were technology, health, social networks, and environment among others.
