1. Telecommunications Development in Georgia

2. n Experts predict the breakthrough in the Telecommunication sector in the next two year based on the NEXT GENERATION NETWORK

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

4. The income of n US$40 million in 1996. n US$180 million in 2001 n More than US$200 million in 2002 The overall growth of the sector

5. Density (number per 100 inhabitants), % n Telephone12 n Mobile phone6,5 n Internet-linked computers0.6 Density of Communications

6. 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

7. Local telephone communications (PSTN) n 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.

8. International and trunk telephone communications n 800 digital satellite lines connect Georgian operators to the networks of companies: n Sprint, n AT & T n MCI n SCOTTCO n Deutsche Telecom

9. International and trunk telephone communications Fiber-optic lines n Total length of them is 446 km (10% of all trunk lines) n This is mainly Georgian segment of TransAsia-Europe fiber-optic line under construction: n Poti-Rize (Turkey) and Poti-Varna (Bulgaria); n the line passing along Armenia- Azerbaijan-Georgia Railways

10. Mobile (cellular) telephony Fig. 9.3. Cellular communications growth (number of subscribers, thou)

11. Mobile (cellular) telephony The largest companies n MAGTI 210 thou users n Geocell 80 thou users n Megacom 5 thou users Two operators use GSM 900/1800 technology and one uses AMPS 800

12. The Internet n 11 commercial providers n 4 non-commercial providers n The number of users is estimated at approximately 40 thou. n number of Internet-linked computers amounts to 12 thou

13. The Internet Fig. 9.5. Number of Internet-linked computers

14. 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

15. The Internet Sanet Network ADSL service n (Monthly Fee includes 500 Mb of received information by an User and one free POP3 type e-mail account) $55.00/month n Each additional Megabyte of (received) information $ 0.07/Mb n ADSL Modem/Router $ 110

16. Regulatory environment n State policy in the telecommunications sector is being elaborated and pursued by: n Ministry of Transport and Communications n Regulatory Commission n Coordinating Council for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies n State Department of Informatization

17. 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).