A mobile phone in every pocket

t('articles.tweet')

* denotes required field.

• Your name *
• Email to *
• Comments *
• CAPTCHA *

Reset

TASHKENT – The number of mobile phone subscribers in Uzbekistan doubled this year, making it the most successful year in the decade since the first Uzbek mobile communication operators went into business.

In the opinion of Bekhzod Rakhmatov, the public affairs director of the Uzbek cellular company Ucell, such rapid growth in a relatively poor country is explained by the fact that while mobile telephone networks were formed in Uzbekistan later than in other countries, they started up with the latest advances in technology. At the end of November, for example, Ucell launched 3G third generation cellular networks in Tashkent and Samarkand, two of Uzbekistan’s major cities, and will soon implement 3G in Bukhara, the tourist centre of the country. Before the end of the year, MTS Uzbekistan, Beeline and Uzmobile intend to do the same.

General Director of MTS Uzbekistan Bekhzod Akhmedov noted that the 3G network allows a mobile telephone to connect to the Internet at 57 to 115 kilobits per second. Until recently, this was considered a fantasy in Central Asia.

The increasing numbers of Internet users have reduced the cost of access in Uzbekistan. In 2002, the cost of one hour of internet time was 935 Uzbek Sum (approximately $0.70 USD); today an hour online averages only 265 Sum ($0.19). According to State Committee for Radio Frequencies data, 712,000 Uzbeks bought mobile phones in October. At that rate, there will be approximately 13 million cellular network subscribers by the end of the year, which is close to half of the nation’s population of 27.4 million.