Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The country, located at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the east by Azerbaijan. During the major part of the 20th century, Georgia's economy was within the Soviet model of command economy. At present, tourism has become an increasingly significant part of the Georgian economy, with 103 resorts in different climatic zones in the country.

Country has relatively low level of Internet and communication technologies deployment. However, current period of rapid Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development had substantial impact on ICT progress in Georgia. So, Georgia managed not to stay behind, increasingly rolling out Internet and related services. The advancement in Internet and telecommunication infrastructure was also leveraged by the recovery in Post-Soviet economy that had got trough the collapse.

As for the Internet penetration it has changed significantly for the decade; however the usage percentage still remains relatively low as the Internet sector continues to lag the wider development of the country. Currently, slightly over million Georgians get Internet access that draws a picture of over 22% usage in the country. That may be compared to 0.5% in 2000 and almost 8% in 2006, according to www.internetworldstats.com. So, it’s obvious, the uptake of broadband services also remained slow sitting somewhere below 2% for the time being.

According to the recent polls of usage of ICT by individuals in Georgia, 41% of the Georgian elite has a computer in their home, while 65% have used Internet and that up to 35% use Internet every day. While 100% of the Georgian elite have TV-sets at home, 90% of them also report possession of mobile phone. 75% has VCRs and 25% DVD.

As for the main Internet services providers in Georgia they are represented by the following companies among others:

• Caucasus Online – the largest Georgia’s ISP, provides ADSL2+ for some PSTN lines, bases of acquired ISP Sanet, officially not in service since it is pushing GEPON technology
• CDN Ltd or Caucasus Digital Network delivers Internet and telephony services
• Geonet Ltd – an Internet Service Provider
• Georgia Online – an Internet Service Provider
• Global-One – an Internet Service Provider
• Sanet Ltd - an Internet Service Provider
• Telenet – delivers telecommunications, Internet, fixed wireless and data transfer services
• Service Net - offers ADSL2+ services from late 2005, with local upload speed up to 1 Mbit/s and download - up to 24 Mbit/s
• United Telecom of Georgia – delivers it ADSL2+ from early 2009
• Akhali Kselebi - offers ADSL2+ for some of subscribers

Caucasus Online, being the largest Georgian internet service provider, controls almost 90% of Georgia’s internet communications market. Caucasus Online was formed by the merge of three major Georgian ISPs Caucasus Network, Georgia Online and SaNet. The operator delivers a wide range of internet services, including Dial-up, DSL, FTTx, web design and web hosting. Besides, Caucasus Online operates a Submarine communications cable which links Varna and Poti and provides high speed internet to Georgia.

Country’s Internet code top-level domain (ccTLD) is .ge, registered in 1992. Two years registration agreement is relatively expensive with $ 499.00.00 charged for .ge and .com.ge, according to www.rwgusa.com. The administrative contact and the technical contact of a domain name ending with .ge have to be resident at Georgia. To be registered under .ge domain, it’s necessary to have local presence. Meantime, special requirements also exist, including company letterhead, necessity of Georgia internet service utilization, necessity of being legal representative in Georgia.

Registrations directly under .ge, .com.ge and under some restricted second level domains (.gov.ge, .net.ge and others) also available.

Turning to e-commerce segment of Georgian ICT market, it’s important to say that despite, the deployment is relatively slow, the progress is still possible. Thus, the number of new web based businesses are appearing.

One of the examples of successful e-business can be represented by Saatec. That is an international software development company based in the capital Tbilisi. The company offers offshore software development, web design services and legacy application re-engineering services. Saatec is also experienced in developing applications for a range of industries including e-commerce, banking, finance, medicine. 

Georgia studied and set several e-government solutions, but there is a need to better formulate needs, priorities and costs. Several agencies dealing with these issues exist in Georgia, such as the State Department on IT, the Presidential Commission on IT, the Parliamentary Commission on IT.

Meantime, there is legislation on electronic signatures and electronic commerce. Besides, Georgian government realized its plans to launch “law on information risks” to provide insurance policies on electronic transactions.

It’s obvious that unhealthy economy during almost the decade after the collapse of the Soviet Union, influenced badly the development of ICT in this Caucasian country. However, the situation’s currently getting better, with the deployment of new Internet related services, new ISPs appearance, government support of the telecommunication sector. Despite, The Internet infrastructure in Georgia still continues to lag in comparison with other developed countries, the country achieves not to stay behind, trying to accept the new Internet and related technologies.