MTS sets timeframe for Uzbekistan launch

Russia’s Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) has announced that its new mobile operator in Uzbekistan will launch commercial services on 1 December 2014, UzDaily writes. The new provider, which will be a joint venture split 50.01/49.99 between MTS and the Uzbek government is scheduled to be established under the Universal Mobile Systems (UMS) name by 15 August and is set to be registered by 25 September. UMS’s network chiefly comprises the infrastructure installed by MTS via its former MTS Uzbekistan (also known as Uzdunrobita) division, which was forced out of the market by the government in 2012. The network will be activated for technical trials from 1 November, with commercial services due to be launched a month later. As noted by CommsUpdate earlier this month, MTS agreed a settlement deal with the Uzbek government, under which it would re-enter the mobile market via the JV, in exchange for dropping legal proceedings against the republic in the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).