What brings you to CABSAT this year? What are you showcasing during this edition of the event?
Since 2014, we have been participating at CABSAT, the largest platform in the MEASA region that brings together the leading players in the broadcast and satellite telecommunications industry. And each year, we come here to showcase our most advanced telecommunication services and solutions, connect with our partners, and simply keep our finger on the pulse of everything happening in the industry. We always endeavor to bring meaningful innovations to our customers and are continuously working on expanding our services and solutions to meet the market’s increasing demand.
This year, we are bringing satellite Internet connectivity to Africa – just recently, we have entered into a partnership agreement with Signalhorn to provide secure and high-quality satellite Internet throughout the African continent. The Internet services will be provided via our Azerspace-1 satellite, ensuring effective connectivity across Africa. We aim to contribute to bridging the digital gap, facilitating socio-economic development, and empowering better connectivity for Africa’s future generations. This is an important milestone for us as we continue to expand our services and reach a greater audience.
We always endeavor to bring meaningful innovations to our customers and are continuously working on expanding our services and solutions to meet the market’s increasing demand.
JAVIDAN FEYZIYEV, HEAD OF EMEA GROUP SALES DEPARTMENT
Can you tell us about your satellites that have helped Azercosmos become a significant player in the African and MENA market?
With our 2 telecommunication satellites, namely Azerspace-1 and Azerspace-2, and a reliable terrestrial network, we are successfully delivering high-end satellite services to a 1/3rd of the globe and bridging the digital divide by providing prime satellite connectivity to millions of people. A wide range of our video and data services and solutions, including broadband connectivity, video broadcasting, mobile backhaul, and many others are ideally designed to deliver information instantly to quickly and efficiently manage the business operations of our partners.
Africa and the Middle East have always been remarkably important focus markets for us. Both Azerspace-1 and Azerspace-2 offer exceptionally strong coverage throughout the African continent and extensive coverage in the Middle East region. Thus, we were able to strengthen our position as a satellite service provider in this market and establish meaningful relations with a number of customers from the region.
Today, we enable satellite connectivity for over 10.4 million households in the Middle East and Africa and look forward to expanding further.
Can you tell us something about the satellite fleet of Azercosmos and how far their development has come from the company’s inception?
Today, we see that the global satellite industry is growing fast, delivering advanced services and solutions to different markets worldwide. And we completely understand the important role we play as the Space Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan in contributing to space industry development both in the local and international contexts.
Тhe Africa and MENA markets possess a vast potential for the application and expansion of telecommunication services and solutions, and soon enough we were able to establish strong cooperative relations with a wide range of customers in these markets.
JAVIDAN FEYZIYEV, HEAD OF EMEA GROUP SALES DEPARTMENT
Since our establishment back in 2010, we have launched 2 telecommunication satellites and have been offering cutting-edge services and solutions.
Via its C-band and Ku-band beams, Azerspace-1 has an extensive coverage area in Europe, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East.
On the other hand, Azerspace-2 provides fast and resilient Ku-band connectivity to East, Central, and West Africa, Middle East, Europe, and Central Asia.
Undoubtedly, our satellite fleet allows us to provide an outstanding bespoke experience to our partners, emphasizing our first-class technical standards, exceptional customer service, and customer-oriented approach.
Being an Azerbaijani company, can you shed light on the challenges you faced coming into the Africa and MENA markets and how you have been able to tackle the problems?
Entering a new market is never easy, especially given that Azercosmos was a relatively young business and not much well known in the region when we launched our first satellite, Azerspace-1. Among the challenges we faced were lack of awareness about our business as a whole, high competition and some other aspects that we had to take into account incorporating our business strategy. Nevertheless, the Africa and MENA markets possess vast potential for the application and expansion of telecommunication services and solutions, and soon enough we were able to establish strong cooperative relations with a wide range of customers in these markets. Since then, the number of our partners here has been constantly growing, as we have also been working on diversifying the spectrum of offered services and solutions.
Certainly, the modus operandi that we employ in our business operations has contributed to how we develop and where we are now to a great extent. Our partners are always at the heart of what we do, and this genuine customer-centricity, coupled with the technical quality of our services and tailored approach to each individual case, facilitated the process of strengthening our positions in the Middle East and Africa.
Today, we enable satellite connectivity for over 10.4 million households in the Middle East and Africa and look forward to expanding further.
JAVIDAN FEYZIYEV, HEAD OF EMEA GROUP SALES DEPARTMENT
We would love to hear about your future plans in the African and MENA markets. Does Azercosmos have something in the works?
As I mentioned previously, we have enhanced the quality and the overall capabilities of the satellite Internet services we offer throughout Africa, and aspire to deliver continuous Internet connectivity to customers across the continent and ensure the best experience for our partners. Understanding the importance of having close cooperative relations with various partners across the industry, we are actively looking into expanding our partnership network, thus providing opportunities for business growth. We have already signed several partnership agreements enabling us to amplify the quality and the coverage of the services and solutions we provide and are open to any new collaborations with various businesses operating in this sphere to stimulate efficient service delivery.
Certainly, we never cease working on new products, services, and solutions that we can offer to our partners to better address the existing connectivity challenges. Let us meet at the next edition of CABSAT and see what we will have in store then – and we will definitely surprise you.
