 | Issue: | Asia-Pacific II 2008 |
| Article no.: | 3 | |
| Topic: | Access evolution in Uzbekistan | |
| Author: | Abdulla Aripov | |
| Title: | Director-General, Communications and Information Agency and Chairman of the State Committee for Radio Frequencies | |
| Organisation: | Republic of Uzbekistan | |
| PDF size: | 216KB |
About author
Abdulla Aripov is the Director-General of the Communications and Information Agency of Uzbekistan. Mr Aripov has held a number of posts in the Government of Uzbekistan: First Deputy Director-General of Post and Telecommunications Agency of Uzbekistan; Director of Fund of State Support for Development of Post and Telecommunications; Head of Market Transformations and Securities, Department of the Ministry of Communications; Head of Construction and Provision Department, Ministry of Communications; and, Senior specialist, Ministry of Communications. Before joining the government, Mr Aripov worked as the Deputy Director on technical issues at Uzimpexaloka, a foreign trade company and as an electronics engineer at Tashkent Telephone-Telegraph Exchange. Mr Aripov holds a PhD in Economics and graduated from the Tashkent Electro-technical Institute of Communications as a telecommunications engineer.
Article abstract
Shortly after its independence in 1991, Uzbekistan began to prepare itself for integration into the global economy. The government planned the re-development of the country’s telecommunications networks using digital technology to expand wired and wireless access and modernise its broadcast networks. Today, all the country’s exchanges are digitalised and its long-distance network integrated with the Trans-Asian-European Fibre System. Optical fibre networks and digital radio-relay circuits tie together the country’s 2.5 million data transmission and Internet users and 7.5 million mobile users.
Full Article
Nowadays, telecommunication technologies are developing rapidly. Understanding the rules of telecommunications development allows us to avoid many mistakes whilst constructing telecommunication networks. The fast-moving development of telecommunication technologies has greatly affected the development of telecommunication networks in the Republic of Uzbekistan. Network development in Uzbekistan After declaring its independence in 1991, the Republic of Uzbekistan’s Cabinet of Ministers, concerned about the development of its telecommunication network, adopted Resolution №307 on August 1, 1995. The resolution is entitled, ‘On the National Programme of reconstruction and development of telecommunication network of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the period till 2010’. The primary objectives of the programme are to create a national telecommunication network based upon digital transmission and digital switching systems for deep integration into the global telecommunication system and, thereby, satisfy the communications needs of the Republic’s economy and population. The Republic’s telecommunications network development programme calls for a step-by-step reconstruction and development of Uzbekistan’s international, long-distance and local telephone networks. International network The programme’s schedule set forth a series of milestones: • 1991-1996 – digitalise the international telephone exchanges; • 1995-1997 – Integrate the country’s international transport network with the Trans-Asian-European Fibre System (TAE FOS) which runs from Shanghai to Frankfurt and extends about 900km through the territory of Uzbekistan; and, • 1997-2007 – expand the quantity and capacity of international telephone exchanges to reach more than 60,000 channels. Today, Uzbekistan’s international connections – including data transmission networks and Internet – total 370Mbit/sec, primarily via FOS fibre channels and satellite communications. Long-distance Network Between 1994 and 2002, all of the country’s long-distance telephone exchanges were digitalized. Today, the capacity of long-distance telephone exchanges, taking into account the expansion, totals more than 100,000 channels. The reconstruction and development of Uzbekistan’s long-distance transport network includes more than 12,000km of SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy), DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) optical fibre and digital radio-relay circuits. Local network Between 1994 and 2007, digitalisation of local telephone networks implemented by reconstruction and development projects reached 86 per cent, completely digitalising all the telephone exchanges in regional centres and cities. The telephone exchanges currently have a total capacity of two million lines. The digitalization of local telecommunication networks increased the quality, ensured the provision of new types of services to subscribers and offered high-speed switched access to the Internet for a great number of users. High-speed SDH and DWDM based transport networks and data transmission services were created to maintain the quality of the telephone traffic and to provide Internet access in Tashkent and regional centres. Data transmission network The digital trunk network constructed between 1994 and 2002 provided high-speed data transmission circuits between cities and regional centres of the Republic, and provided subscribers with data transmission and Internet access services. The development of data transmission services took place in the following sequence: the rollout of service provider networks; interconnection with the global Internet network; value-added services (e-commerce services, telemedicine, and telemarketing); general services (advertising, inquiries, entertainments, software products, business, and the like); financial services; e-trading services, and so forth. There are currently more than 2.5 million data transmission and Internet users in Uzbekistan. Mobile network Mobile communications in Uzbekistan began in 1992 with NMT-450 analogue technology and began its initial expansion using AMPS technology. The introduction of digital technology began in 1995 with DAMPS, GSM and СDMA. Nowadays, three mobile communication networks operate on GSM technology (2.5G) and two mobile operators use CDMA2000 (450 and 800MHz) technology. Development of third generation (3G) mobile systems will ensure a sharp increase in the available mobile communication networks bandwidth (144 Kbit/sec and up to 2 Mbit/sec) and high service quality. In the past year, the number of mobile subscribers in Uzbekistan increased more than two times and reached 7.5 million. There are currently three operators licensed to provide 3G mobile communication services. Broadcasting and TV Between 1998 and 2007, all radio broadcast and TV transmitters were replaced with advanced solid-state transmitters. Today, the two television channels and the broadcast channel are carried by terrestrial and satellite systems that cover the entire inhabited Republic. Other TV channels cover more than 90 per cent of the population. Technological evolution and the last mile In recent years, both wired and wireless telecommunications technologies have evolved rapidly. Each of the many new technologies have their advantages and disadvantages depending on the way they will be used. In the next ten to 15 years, optical technologies will become increasingly important for both trunk connections and subscriber access in densely populated districts. Wireless technologies, on the other hand, will always be important for fixed connectivity in remote settlements and, of course, for mobile telephony. The development and rollout of technologies that provide the subscriber with new choices is vitally important for the introduction of a wide range of high-quality services. Technological evolution, including for telecommunications, tends to occur in waves. The dissemination of any technology as it comes to the market is a step-by-step process; there are several stages before a technology reaches peak distribution, and several more stages before it is fully replaced by the evolution of last mile technology development, and deployment is illustrated in the figure above. As seen in the figure, the deployment of modern last mile technologies is accompanied by a marked decrease of interest in copper line usage. The traditional copper lines are slowly but surely being replaced by fibre-optic lines and wireless (cellular, wireless broadband and WiMAX). This replacement process will reach its peak in the near future. Mobile subscriber growth will reach its peak between 2010 and 2012 and then start to taper off. Wireless technologies such as mobile, wireless broadband access and WiMAX are now being introduced in a step-by-step fashion in Uzbekistan, bringing new services to regions that never before had adequate service, and they have yet to reach their peak.
