Bakcell customers hit 2.6m

The active subscriber base of Azeri mobile operator Bakcell exceeded 2.6 million at the end of 2012, Trend news agency cites company head Richard Shearer as saying at a press conference in Baku. Without stating figures, Shearer said that Bakcell holds approximately 40% of the mobile internet market. He added that the cellco is currently in negotiations with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies (MCIT) on the deployment of a 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and the introduction of mobile number portability (MNP), which is expected later this year. Bakcell’s 2G GSM network, which was launched in December 1998, covers 99% of the Georgian population and 92% of the country’s territory.