Uzbekistan to Lead in 5G: 42% of Connections by 2030

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan is charting one of the most dynamic digitalization trajectories in Eurasia: by 2030, fifth-generation connections in the country will account for 42 percent of the total, with an aggregate volume exceeding 16 million connections — nearly double the regional average. The country's mobile operators are investing heavily in infrastructure, launching their own data centers, developing AI-powered educational platforms, and expanding digital ecosystems well beyond traditional connectivity, according to a new report by the international industry association GSMA.

Uzbekistan

According to GSMA Intelligence research published in 2026, Uzbekistan ranks second in Eurasia for the pace of 5G adoption, trailing only Armenia, and substantially outpaces other major regional markets, including Kazakhstan — projected at 27 percent — and Russia at 13 percent by the end of the decade. While 5G networks accounted for roughly 5 percent of Uzbekistan's connections in 2025, that share is set to grow nearly ninefold over five years, driven by large-scale network infrastructure upgrades and the increasing availability of 5G-compatible devices at accessible price points.

Beeline Uzbekistan is playing a pivotal role in modernizing the national network infrastructure, having added 450 new sites in 2025 and upgraded 650 existing base stations, with the majority of efforts focused on boosting LTE network performance. This approach reflects a broader strategy among Uzbek operators: 5G expansion is proceeding in tandem with strengthening fourth-generation network capacity, which remains the dominant technology for most users. According to GSMA, 4G connections accounted for 60 percent of Uzbekistan's total in 2025, while legacy technologies held a 35 percent share.

Alongside network infrastructure development, Uzbek operators are building out fully-fledged digital ecosystems. Ucell has broken ground on a proprietary data center with a capacity of five megawatts and approximately 180 server racks, which will serve as a critical element of the national digital infrastructure. The facility will host digital platforms and handle artificial intelligence workloads as demand for computing capacity from enterprises and government agencies continues to grow. The investment reflects the operator's strategic bet on enterprise digital services, including cloud solutions, the Internet of Things, and data analytics.

State-owned operator Uztelecom is also expanding its footprint in the digital economy, having signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with insurance company Alskom to integrate insurance services into its digital marketplace. The move illustrates how Uzbek operators are transforming their platforms from connectivity channels into multipurpose digital ecosystems — offering users financial services, e-commerce, entertainment content, and government services through a single point of access.

Beeline Uzbekistan is placing a strategic emphasis on digital skills development through educational initiatives. In 2025, the Beeline Academy completed a large-scale training program for approximately one thousand computer science teachers across the country, focused on integrating artificial intelligence tools into the classroom. Implemented in partnership with the Tashkent Institute of Irrigation and Agricultural Mechanization Engineers, the program aims to strengthen foundational digital competencies throughout the national education system and prepare the next generation for the technologies of the future.

Uzbekistan has also joined regional efforts to strengthen network security and protect users from digital threats. In 2025, Uzbek operators deployed anti-spoofing call authentication systems designed to detect international calls disguised as local numbers. The technology helps curb fraud in which malicious actors spoof caller IDs to deceive citizens into surrendering personal data or money. Similar systems were introduced in Kazakhstan, where a platform developed by Kazakhtelecom and Kcell detected more than five thousand spoofing incidents and helped shut down SIM-box fraud operations.

The development of artificial intelligence is emerging as a pillar of Uzbekistan's technological sovereignty strategy, in parallel with Kazakhstan. Both countries are experiencing surging demand for computing capacity as enterprises adopt AI-driven solutions and cloud services — yet local data center capacity remains constrained: Kazakhstan has around 25 facilities, while Uzbekistan has just five, far below the benchmarks set by the world's leading digital economies. Uzbek authorities regard AI infrastructure expansion as a priority in support of ambitious plans to digitalize public services, industry, and agriculture.

In November 2025, QazCode — a unit of international operator Veon operating across the Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan markets — signed a partnership agreement with American company MeetKai to advance the development of large language model training and agentic services in local languages. The initiative builds on earlier developments such as Kazakhstan's KazLLM and aims to create locally trained AI language models capable of supporting Uzbek, Kazakh, and other languages of the region. The technology is intended for applications in education, healthcare, agritech, public services, and enterprise productivity, with the potential to reach more than 150 million users across Central Asia and Russia.

A GSMA Intelligence enterprise survey reveals that Uzbek companies hold some of the highest expectations for digital transformation returns in the region — with projected ROI on digitalization investment reaching 400 to 500 percent, significantly surpassing the expectations of peers in Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. Paradoxically, however, despite these lofty projections, Uzbek enterprises plan some of the lowest levels of digital transformation spending as a share of revenue for the 2025–2030 period. Business leaders cite uncertainty about available technological solutions and the immaturity of existing platforms as the primary barriers to digitalization — underscoring the role of operators as key providers of turnkey enterprise solutions.

Uzbek enterprise spending on artificial intelligence, according to GSMA projections, is expected to grow at approximately 11 percent annually between 2025 and 2030, pointing to a nascent but underdeveloped corporate AI solutions market. For operators, this represents a significant untapped opportunity: deploying cloud platforms pre-loaded with AI services — such as MWS from Russia's MTS — could help Uzbek companies accelerate the adoption of AI customer service assistants, internal knowledge management tools, and automated software development systems, without the need to build their own infrastructure from scratch.

Eurasia

Across Eurasia, the mobile ecosystem generated an economic contribution of 270 billion dollars in 2025, equivalent to 8.1 percent of the region's combined GDP. By 2030, GSMA projects this figure will rise to 300 billion dollars, with the primary growth driver being productivity gains from the adoption of digital technologies including 5G, the Internet of Things, and artificial intelligence. The region encompasses nine countries: Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, and Russia.

Eurasia's mobile sector directly employed 510,000 people in 2025, while economic activity across the broader ecosystem supported an additional 240,000 jobs in other industries — amounting to direct or indirect support for approximately 750,000 positions in total. Operators and the wider mobile ecosystem remain significant employers and drivers of economic activity throughout the region, despite a challenging macroeconomic environment and a slowdown in economic growth to 1.7 percent in 2025, following stronger rates of 4.3 and 4.5 percent in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan ranks second in the region by absolute number of 5G connections, with a projected 8.4 million by 2030, representing a 27 percent share of total connections. Operator Kcell had deployed approximately 1,846 5G base stations by mid-2025, providing fifth-generation access across 20 cities — indicating strong throughput capacity in key urban areas. At the national level, more than 3,000 5G base stations had been installed across all cities of national significance and 17 regional centers as of April 2025. Meanwhile, Kcell deployed or upgraded more than 860 network infrastructure sites, of which 330 were new 5G stations, while the majority of investment was directed at improving the performance of existing LTE networks.

Kazakhstan has also emerged as the pioneer in developing sovereign AI infrastructure in Central Asia. State operator Kazakhtelecom launched the region's first sovereign AI factory in 2025 — a GPU-based infrastructure purpose-built for large-scale AI model training and inference for government and enterprise applications. The investment reflects Kazakhstan's strategic commitment to building a full-stack AI capability spanning infrastructure, model, and application layers.

Operator Beeline Kazakhstan demonstrated how digital services are becoming the primary revenue growth driver: in 2025, the company's revenues from non-core digital services grew 31 percent year-on-year, while traditional mobile and fixed-line services saw minimal growth. The company also integrated an AI tutor into its Janymda super-app, providing interactive educational support in Kazakh and Russian and helping users develop digital skills and AI competencies.

Armenia

Armenia has reached the most advanced level of 5G maturity in the region, having shifted focus from coverage expansion to increasing throughput and network quality in areas already served. Operator Ucom extended 5G coverage along key transport and tourism corridors, including the Yerevan–Dilijan highway, border crossings, and major resorts. The network now covers 47 cities, dozens of settlements, and more than 94 percent of the country's population, combining nationwide accessibility with targeted support for transport and tourist flows. By 2030, Armenia's 5G connection share is projected to reach 35 percent, representing a total of 1.5 million connections.

Fellow Armenian operator Viva Armenia expanded its collaboration with US corporation Oracle to deploy enterprise cloud and data solutions — illustrating the differing approaches operators are taking to developing infrastructure and platform capabilities in support of enterprise digital transformation. Investment in the B2B enterprise segment is becoming a critical revenue diversification priority for operators across Eurasia as growth in the traditional consumer business decelerates.

Azerbaijan

In Azerbaijan, operator Azercell obtained a central bank license to operate as an electronic money issuer through its subsidiary Akart, enabling the launch of digital wallets and the integration of Google Pay and Apple Pay into the operator's mobile app. Rival Bakcell also expanded its fintech capabilities in 2025, embedding support for Visa, Apple Pay, and Google Pay into its application and extending telecom payments from domestic transactions to globally interoperable digital payment services. The development of payment ecosystems reflects a region-wide trend: operators are building multi-layered digital platforms in which connectivity serves merely as the foundational engagement layer, while core monetization flows through financial services, e-commerce, and digital advertising.

Tajikistan

Tajikistan is at the earliest stage of 5G deployment in the region, with fifth-generation connections accounting for approximately 1 percent of the total in 2025. The government has established a national 5G consortium to align operator actions, coordinate spectrum planning, and synchronize investment. The goal is to accelerate infrastructure modernization, achieve nationwide 4G coverage by 2027, and achieve a broader 5G transition by 2030, when the share of fifth-generation networks is projected to reach 33 percent. Tajik operators Zet-Mobile, Tcell, Babilon-Mobile, and MegaFon increased the volume of data included in mobile plans by 20 to 50 percent in 2025 while keeping prices stable — reflecting efforts to improve digital service affordability for a predominantly low-income population.

Operator Tcell signed a partnership with regional platform Mawj Platforms to expand music and video services in Tajik, Dari, Pashto, and Urdu, strengthening user engagement through local-language content. Localization of digital services is becoming an important competitive differentiator for operators in this multilingual region, where global platforms often fall short in language support.

Belarus

Belarus became the last major economy in Eurasia to launch commercial 5G services in April 2026, with operators MTS and Life activating fifth-generation networks initially in Minsk and other key cities. The rollout remains at an early stage, with limited coverage and device availability, but 5G's share of connections is projected to reach 14 percent by 2030. Operator A1 introduced discounted tariffs for students in support of digital access to education, and expanded a nationwide digital security awareness campaign titled "Think for 5 Seconds," conducting training sessions for more than 1,000 volunteers on fraud prevention and the safe use of digital services.

Russia

In Russia, operators have commenced a large-scale rollout of domestically produced network equipment as part of a technological sovereignty strategy. Rostelecom installed more than 500 LTE base stations manufactured by domestic vendor Bulat under a government program to close the digital divide in rural areas. Operator MTS expanded the deployment of LTE base stations from domestic vendor Irteya, installing approximately 1,000 additional units in 2025 and extending support for the 2,100 and 2,600 MHz frequency bands. MTS also unveiled the country's first domestic 5G base station produced by Irteya, though it remains at the demonstration and testing stage — signaling an intent to extend domestic capability from LTE into next-generation infrastructure.

Russian operators are also leading the region in the deployment of AI-powered digital platforms for enterprise clients. MTS launched the MTS Web Services cloud platform with generative AI capabilities, enabling businesses to build large language model-based applications such as customer service assistants, internal knowledge management tools, and software development copilots. Rostelecom, through its mobile subsidiary, deployed a high-performance cloud cluster designed for high-throughput virtual machines and large-scale data processing, offering services ranging from industrial connectivity and enterprise IT hosting to transport management, urban services, and public safety systems.

Kyrgyzstan

Kyrgyzstan remains in the pre-commercial stage of 5G development, with the government having announced plans for fifth-generation network launches in the coming years. Operator Beeline Kyrgyzstan is developing the My O! digital platform, which has evolved from basic telecom payment functionality into a full-fledged financial ecosystem through integration with O!Bank. The app supports all Kyrgyz banking cards, the national ELQR payment system, online shopping, government services, and cashback programs — positioning the operator's platform as a constituent element of the country's local digital payment infrastructure.

Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan launched its first 5G network in the new smart city of Arkadag, constructed as a national pilot project in digital urban development. Arkadag, inaugurated in 2023, integrates intelligent transportation, smart housing, e-health, and digital government service platforms. In 2025, the authority overseeing the national telecommunications infrastructure and its operators deployed a 5G network within the city. High-speed connectivity enables real-time data exchange between transport, healthcare, and municipal systems, positioning Arkadag as a national showcase for digital urban services and next-generation connectivity.

Barriers

Despite progress in infrastructure deployment, the region faces a significant gap between mobile internet coverage and actual usage. In 2024, the coverage gap stood at just 3 percent of Eurasia's population, while the usage gap reached 29 percent — meaning nearly a third of people living within range of mobile internet coverage are not using it. Barriers include device and tariff affordability, a lack of digital skills, an absence of relevant local-language content, and low levels of trust in digital services, particularly among rural populations and low-income groups.

Addressing these barriers requires a comprehensive approach that goes beyond infrastructure expansion to encompass digital literacy improvement, accessible content development, and the building of trust in digital platforms through cybersecurity measures and anti-fraud protections. Operators across Eurasia are playing an increasingly important role in delivering on these objectives through educational programs, anti-phishing campaigns, network-level spam and fraud call protection systems, and digital accessibility initiatives for vulnerable population groups.

Continued growth and innovation in Uzbekistan's mobile industry — and across Eurasia as a whole — will hinge on the availability of radio frequency spectrum, particularly in the low and mid bands. Low-frequency spectrum below one gigahertz, such as the 700 MHz band, is essential for rural and in-building coverage due to its strong radio signal propagation. Most Eurasian countries have yet to allocate the 700 MHz band to operators, though Armenia and Uzbekistan have already done so, giving them a head start in deploying cost-effective coverage in less densely populated areas.

Timely access to mid-band spectrum in the 3.4–3.8 GHz range — currently used for 5G launches — and in the 6 GHz band, identified for mobile use at the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference, will be critical to supporting traffic growth and the deployment of wideband channels of 200 to 400 MHz toward the end of the decade and into the 2030s. Regional governments are advised to develop clear spectrum roadmaps specifying allocation timelines and licensing terms, so that operators can plan long-term network infrastructure investments with confidence.