Azerbaijan

UNDER PREPARATION

Basics
Azerbaijan has three national GSM operators: A forth operator called Aztrank operates on CDMA network which is not compatible to GSM devices and therefore not mentioned any further.
 * Azercell
 * Bakcell
 * Nar

2G/GSM is on 900 MHz with Azercell and Bakcell and 1800 MHz with Nar, 3G is on 2100 MHz with all operators up to DC-HSPA and 4G/LTE has started on 1800 MHz with Acercell only so far.

Coverage, speed.....

Regulations
Up to 2016 it was difficult to get a SIM card for foreigners the legal way as they couldn't properly register you as a short-time visitor. Most SIM cards were sold on the grey market without any registration risking that they'll shut you off.

Things changed in 2016 when a new SIM registration system was implemented that allowed for the first time that foreigners staying less than 10 days in the country are registered on a centralized database with their ID data. Now any visitor can easily get a SIM card by showing your ID (passport, visa) at one of the salespoints of the operators.

IMEI registration
There is another hurdle. Like in Turkey, the authorities in Azerbaijan maintain a register of all IMEI numbers. These numbers are unique to your device and go to a whitelist system. This is done officially to prevent theft, but constitutes a surveillance scheme as well.

All devices need to be registered on the Azerbajan IMEI data base, that use a local SIM card for more than 30 days. To enlist you can either go online ###### with a local friend or go to any post office in the country. Online registration costs ###, in postal offices ####. Otherwise, your device will be shut off based on its IMEI number.

To know your IMEI number, you need to press ##### on your device. If you stay for less than 30 days or use a roaming SIM, you don't need to care. Similar to Turkey this country remains to be greylisted as this 2nd registration poses another obstacle. The grace period is much shorter, but fees are lower too.