Uzbek state-backed fixed and mobile operator Uzbektelecom has signed a total of eight contracts worth USD506.8 million with Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE for network development and expansion, under agreements supported by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications (MITC). Under the contracts telecoms networks and digital infrastructure will be developed in western and eastern regions of the country, including in a first stage:
• installation of 2,255 3G/4G base stations
• modernisation of 3,216 3G/4G base stations
• installation of 388 5G standard base stations
• 337,000 ’broadband devices’
• installation of radio relay devices at 1,050 network intervals
• installation of 42 hybrid power plants and 292 diesel generators
• DWDM and IP/MPLS network capacity expansion.
Furthermore, in a second phase:
• installation of another 795 3G/4G base stations
• modernisation of another 1,495 3G/4G base stations
• installation of another 325 5G standard base stations
• additional DWDM and IP/MPLS capacity expansion.
As a result of these projects, Uzbektelecom notes that, in addition to population coverage expansion and quality of service improvement, it expects to achieve full coverage of high speed mobile internet along ‘highways of international importance’ and on railways across the Republic, while operating 5G standard base stations in the capital city Tashkent and in all regional centres. The data transmission capacity of its trunk transport networks will also be upgraded.