Uzbektelecom multiplying capacity, reducing data costs, ceasing DSL development in favour of fibre

Uzbektelecom (offering fixed network services under the Uztelecom brand) intends to cease developing its ADSL network next year in order to focus investment on expanding and upgrading its fibre-to-the-x (FTTx) network, according to company officials quoted by news agency Trend. The Uzbekistan state-backed national operator also launched new, cheaper broadband tariffs at the start of December; the telco’s head of sales and service development Alisher Zufarov confirmed that two new unlimited (fair usage policy) end-user tariffs were launched, for the first time ‘guaranteeing’ the connection speed rather than advertising ‘up to [xMbps]’. A 2Mbps (unlimited) package now costs UZS8,000 (USD1) per month, less than half the previously offered similar plan. The operator highlighted that its improved package range was made possible by a recent upgrade to Uzbektelecom’s international capacity; the company raised its total International Packet Switching Centre (IPSC) capacity tenfold from 110Gbps to 1.2Tbps. Furthermore, on the wholesale side, Uzbektelecom reduced the rate of the internet gateway access for other operators to UZS85,000 per Mbps from 1 December, down from UZS169,000.