Farid Hajiyev, head of press at the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies at the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic (MCIT NAR), said that Nakhtel is applying for a licence to operate in the 1800MHz and 2100MHz frequency bands.
The company is thought to be planning a 4G network roll-out in Nakhchivan, before rolling it out to the rest of Azerbaijan.
“The company has prepared a draft network of 4G deployment, which will initially be available on the territory of the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic,” Hajiyev said.
“The next stage will be the 4G network coverage throughout the territory of Azerbaijan. Like other mobile operators in the country Nakhtel will provide communication services in the GSM standard,” he added.
Nakhtel will initially use base stations of existing operators in the country – Azercell, Bakcell and Azerfon – after which the company will construct and expand its own infrastructure.
Commercial deployment of the network is scheduled for the end of year, but this may be postponed until early 2015.
In February 2013, Azerbaijan launched its first telecoms satellite, Azerspace-1.
