Turkmenistan has the least liberalised and most centrally regulated telecoms sectors in Central Asia. The record of the Turkmen regulator has worsened considerably with its handling of the termination of MTS's licence in Q411 and its subsequent hounding that led to its full withdrawal later in the decade. By 2021, the sole wireline and mobile operator remaining are both government-owned.

The Turkmenistan government oversees operational and regulatory responsibilities through the Ministry of Communication. Unlike the country's regional counterparts, little has been done to liberalise the sector. State-owned Turkmentelecom is responsible for providing wireline services including local, national and international voice telephony and internet access.

In May 2012, MTS announced it had negotiated a re-entry into the Turkmen market in H212, after agreeing to pay higher taxes. The operator was due to pay at 30%, as opposed to the 20% it paid before its suspension. However, in the end of 2018, MTS terminated its operation in the country and ceased its services.

Evidence suggests that the government does not plan to allow another operator into the mobile sector, at least in the medium term. The government does see improving communications and internet access as a priority, but generally prefers to achieve this through domestic resources. Meanwhile, the lack of technical knowledge, restrictions on websites and social media and a poor climate for foreign investment mean the communications sector remains underdeveloped.

In Uzbekistan, responsibility for the telecommunications sector resides with the Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications (MITC).

In 1996, the Uzbek government began inviting foreign telecoms companies to invest in the country. This move accompanied the liberalisation of the mobile telephony, internet and data services sectors. In 2000, the government created Uzbektelecom (now Uztelecom)as the holding company charged with operating the national telecommunications network. The government has intended to privatize Uztelecom since 2001, however, there were no new developments in this regard by April 2021. Partial competition exists in Uzbekistan's voice telephony market in the form of ISPs that are licensed to offer VoIP services.

2021

In April 2021, Ucell launched 5G services in central Tashkent, utilising the 3500MHz band. Ucell planned to expand the service to cover most of the rest of the city later in the year. It also planned to launch services in other cities. As the MITC had not formally announced an auction of 5G spectrum or the allocation of a commercial or pilot 5G licence to Ucell, this move leaves other operators at a competitive disadvantage.

The 5G concession may have been used as an incentive for Russia-based MegaFon to invest USD100mn in Ucell. The deal was announced in February 2020 but will be implemented later in 2021. MegaFon will acquire a majority stake in a joint venture with minor Ucell shareholders that will, in turn, own 51% of Ucell. The state will effectively retain an indirect majority control over Ucell, but the move is welcome as it begins to unwind years of state influence over the market.

The sale could presage a long-awaited sale of a stake in incumbent Uzbektelecom or its mobile unit Uzmobile. In addition, the state remains keen to offload its stakes in minor mobile player Mobiuz and limited mobility player Perfectum in the short to medium term.

2020

In early June, the MITC revealed its ‘Digital Economy’ 2020 plan; as part of that, it revealed achievements for the first half of the year. During that time, 281,000 new fixed broadband internet ports were installed (with equipment for 340,000 ports delivered), towards an annual target of 800,000 new ports. In the mobile sector, the MITC noted that 1,148 new 3G/4G base stations had been deployed and activated; it was aiming for a total of 2,200 new 3G/4G base stations in FY20. It had also overseen 1,483 upgrades to existing base stations to provide mobile broadband services. Furthermore, 6,500km of fibre-optic cable had been installed in H120, out of a total 12,000km planned for the full year.

2019

In September, Uzbekistan announced a draft tax code that would impose a new levy on companies providing various online services to retail customers. These include advertising, search engine, cloud, online commerce, streaming and other services.

In July, the Uzbekistan Ministry of ICT Development invited operators, ISPs and providers of telecommunications equipment to submit proposals for the deployment of 5G networks in the country.