Country profile: Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan’s hub potential centres primarily on its advantageous position as an alternative connectivity route between Europe and Asia that avoids two key chokepoints:

• The Russia-Ukraine northern route currently affected by war and geopolitics
• The Suez Canal southern route, where cables are at a high risk of either accidental damage or deliberate sabotage.

The oil and gas industry has long developed infrastructure along this route to deliver supply diversity, and 2025 has now seem movement in this regard for telecoms and connectivity, too.

March 4 saw the signing of an agreement to build the subsea stage of the Trans-Caspian Fibre Optic Cable, a project linking Turkmenistan in the east to Turkey in the west. The undersea portion developed in tandem by national carriers AzerTelecom and Kazakhtelecom, will run 380 kilometres between Sumgait in Azerbaijan and Aktau in Kazakhstan.

There is also a strong base internally for Azerbaijan to develop its digital services and hub status. The country has the second-fastest average broadband speed of the countries in this guide behind Bulgaria, and the data cente sector is moving forwards in 2025 too. The European Investment Bank loaned AzInTelecom (a state-owned digital solutions company) €43 million in December 2024 to build two data centres – the first EIB loan to Azerbaijan’s public sector.