TelecommunicationsDevelopment in Georgia

Experts predict the breakthrough in the Telecommunication sector in the next two year based on the

NEXT GENERATION NETWORK

Therefore, it is of great importance to study the readiness of the telecommunications sector of the country for this development

The income of US$40 million in 1996.

US$180 million in 2001 More than US$200 million in 2002

The overall growth of the sector

Density (number per 100 inhabitants), %

Telephone 12 Mobile phone 6,5 Internet-linked computers 0.6

Density of Communications  

Local telephone communications (PSTN)

Georgian Elkavshiri 600 thou users

(state-owned) Akhali Kselebi 100 thou users

(private) Tbilisi has a capacity of 26 telephones/100

inhabitants

Local telephone communications (PSTN)

The present situation has been achieved as a result of the installation of electronic exchange stations (70% of total capacity) carried out by Turkish, Israeli, Korean and other foreign companies.

International and trunk telephone communications

800 digital satellite lines connect Georgian operators to the networks of companies:

Sprint, AT & T MCI SCOTTCO Deutsche Telecom

International and trunk telephone communications Fiber-optic lines

Total length of them is 446 km (10% of all trunk lines)

This is mainly Georgian segment of TransAsia-Europe fiber-optic line

under construction: Poti-Rize (Turkey) and Poti-Varna (Bulgaria); the line passing along Armenia-Azerbaijan-

Georgia Railways

Mobile (cellular) telephony

Fig. 9.3. Cellular communications growth (number of subscribers, thou)

Mobile (cellular) telephony

The largest companies

MAGTI 210 thou users Geocell 80 thou users Megacom 5 thou users

Two operators use GSM 900/1800 technology and one uses AMPS 800

The Internet

11 commercial providers 4 non-commercial providers The number of users is estimated at

approximately 40 thou. number of Internet-linked computers

amounts to 12 thou

The Internet

Fig. 9.5. Number of Internet-linked computers

The Internet

Sanet Network Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) service

via ordinary (copper) telephone lines

speed of downloads from Internet up to 8Mbps;

speed of uploads - up to 768Kbps

The Internet

Sanet Network ADSL service

(Monthly Fee includes 500 Mb of received information by an User and one

free POP3 type e-mail account) $55.00/month

Each additional Megabyte of (received) information $ 0.07/Mb

ADSL Modem/Router $ 110

Regulatory environment

State policy in the telecommunications sector is being elaborated and pursued by:

Ministry of Transport and Communications Regulatory Commission Coordinating Council for the Development of

Information and Communication Technologies

State Department of Informatization

Regulatory environment

Georgian Laws concerning Telecommunications sector

The Law on Communications and Post, dated 23 June, 1999;

The Law on the Press and other Mass Information Media, dated 10 August 1991;

Georgian Law No. 686, dated 13 December 2000, "concerning amendments and supplements to certain legal acts of Georgia” (including licensing in the field of communication).