Uzbekistan: Mobile Telecoms Market Overview
Overview
The Uzbek mobile market is primarily served by Russia’s ‘Big Three’ MNOs; MTS, VimpelCom and TeliaSonera; as well as Perfectum, a small CDMA-based operator with less than 5 percent market share.
MTS – Uzdunrobita
In August 1991 under the initiative of the Ministry of Communications, Uzbek-American Uzdunrobita JV was founded for granting services of cellular communications. This was the first mobile operator not only in Turkmenistan, but in the Central Asian region.
Commercial operation began in August 1992 on the NMT standard and by November 1995 the network had transitioned to the new AMPS/DAMPS standard.
By the end of 1998 Uzdunrobita covered more than 900 cities and inhabited localities of Uzbekistan.
At that time Uzdunrobita was recognized and included as one of the three leading companies in the CIS together with Beeline and Fora.
MTS first acquired a 74 per cent stake in Uzdunrobita for $121 million in August 2004 and MTS also signed a three year put and call agreement with all the existing shareholders of the Uzbek company to purchase the remaining 26 per cent for a minimum price of $37.7 million to become the sole owner of the company. However, this option was delayed and MTS eventually acquire the remaining stake in June 2007 for $250 million.
MTS acquired a 3G licence which it received on the 24th of April and intends to have launched commercially by the end of 2008.