Every year on December 6, Azerbaijan celebrates a professional holiday — Day of Communications and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan, which is established by Decree of the President of the country in December 2006, in connection with the 125th anniversary of the creation of telephone communications in the Republic.
In early 1881, the laying of the first telephone line in Azerbaijan began in Baku, which was put into operation on December 6 of the same year ( the line length was 6 kilometers ), and after 5 years, the construction of the first centralized switching network began. In Soviet times, targeted work was carried out in the Republic to develop mail and telegraph. In 1926, wired broadcasting began to function, in the 1950s — television.
After the collapse of the USSR, active development of the sphere of communications and IT began in Azerbaijan, in connection with which, in 2004, the Ministry of Communications of the Republic was abolished, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies was created on its basis, and the IT field, as well as focused activities in the field of communications, has become one of the country's development priorities.
« National Strategy for Information and Communication Technologies for the Development of the Republic of Azerbaijan ( 2003-2012 ) », approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan № 1146 dated February 17, 2003, determined the general direction of work in this area.
In February 2017, President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev signed an order to create the Ministry of Transport, Communications and High Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan on the basis of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies. And in the fall of 2021, by order of the President, it was renamed the Ministry of Digital Development and Transport ( Azerbaijan. Rəqəmsal İnkişaf və Nəqliyyat Nazirliyi ).
Today, this agency is responsible for regulating the communications industry and developing information technologies in the republic. Its main functions are — the development and implementation of a unified state policy and the regulation of activities in the field of communications and information technologies; creation of information markets; control over the use of the radio frequency spectrum and maintenance of above-ground satellite communications, the implementation of necessary measures to meet the needs of various government agencies, individuals and legal entities for the provision of communication services and information technologies.
The duties of the Ministry also include maintaining and regulating the work of the Azerbaijan Post, telegraph, telephone, radio and television broadcasting, and information technology.
One of the priority areas of the Ministry’s activities today is the intensive development of information and communication technologies ( ICT ) in the country, building partnerships with world IT companies, to increase the efficiency of IT infrastructure of enterprises in Azerbaijan, ensuring IT security in a modern market and maintaining the continuity of work processes in this area.