SpaceWatch.Global An independent perspective on space
Azerbaijan’s state space corporation, AzerCosmos OJSC, and the Russian Satellite Communications Company (RSCC – also known as the Russian Satellite Communications Federal State Unitary Enterprise) inked a cooperative agreement in Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, on 5 December 2019.
The agreement allows for the parties to use each other’s satellites to strengthen their collective market share in the commercial satellite communications sector across Eurasia, Africa, and the Middle East. This means that AzerCosmos will utilise RSCC’s constellation of Express-AM communications satellites, and in turn, RSCC can use AzerCosmos’ AzerSpace-1 and AzerSpace-2 satellites.
Through the agreement, both AzerCosmos and RSCC will offer commercial and government satellite communications services, as well as satellite television broadcasting.
“This agreement is a logical continuation of the strengthening of economic and trade relations between Russia and Azerbaijan,” said Ksenia Drozdova, RSCC’s director-general for business development. “RSCC and Azercosmos have been successfully operating in the markets of Europe, the Middle East and Africa for many years. Joint efforts of two national satellite operators are opening a new page in Russian-Azerbaijani cooperation as a partner export platform for foreign consumers. We greatly appreciate the partnership that we are developing with our Azerbaijani colleagues.”
“This useful cooperation and strategic partnership, which is the continuation of friendly relations between Azerbaijan and Russia, will allow us to serve more customers from the public and private sectors,” said Yolchu Hasanov, head of the Azercosmos Commercial Group. “We are very pleased to cooperate with one of the ten biggest satellite operators in the world – the Russian Satellite Communications Company.”
The agreement was signed at the BakuTel-19 exhibition that focused on telecommunications, innovation, and high technologies and was held in Baku on 3-6 December 2019. The AzerCosmos-RSCC agreement also took place during high-level bilateral meetings between Azerbaijani and Russian officials that emphasised strategic and economic ties between Baku and Moscow.
