Tajik telecoms regulator the Communication Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan (CS) has decided to allow two of the nation’s four mobile network operators, MegaFon Tajikistan and Tcell, to directly access international internet data channels instead of routing all internet traffic through state-run central communications hub the Unified Communication Transit Centre (UCTC, a.k.a. Unified Electronic Communications Switching Centre), Eurasianet reports.
TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database shows that the UCTC, via which all Tajik fixed and mobile operators are currently obliged to route international internet traffic, was established in 2016 and is run by state-owned Tajiktelecom – itself overseen by the CS – with the effect of inhibiting development of both mobile and fixed internet markets ever since; GCD adds that a World Bank report in August 2019 criticised the UCTC and the Tajik state’s telecoms regime as fostering an anti-competitive and underdeveloped sector, with further statements from the bank in 2021 reiterating this stance, but the status quo has persisted until now, despite additional criticism of the country’s internet connection quality in 2022 from Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rahmon – who himself signed the law in January 2016 requiring all ISPs and cellcos to route internet traffic via the UCTC in the interests of ‘national and information security’.
With Tajikistan reportedly suffering some of the worst internet speeds in the world, this month’s long-awaited announcement from the CS is expected to loosen the monopolistic arrangement of traffic control via the Tajiktelecom/UCTC system and in turn improve access to high speed bandwidth around the country. GCD notes that both of the cellcos being granted initial permission to source direct international internet channels are private sector-run: Tcell is 100% owned by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development and MegaFon Tajikistan is controlled by Russia’s MegaFon with a 75% stake, albeit Tajiktelecom owns the other 25%.