Another reason – why there is such a bad Internet in Tajikistan – was voiced by one of the market specialists; we found it funny.
Well, of course, we took the opportunity to once again point out the real problems that are not solved in the republic from the word – absolutely, no one (read – the Communications Service) bears responsibility for this, but some “specialists” sometimes bear such that at least stand, at least fall. Judge for yourself.
The other day, journalist Rajab Mirzo wrote on the Facebook page of the Akhbor baroi afkor (Information for Thought) group that in one local television broadcast, a representative of the Megafon mobile company said that the reason for poor Internet in residential buildings is thick walls .
“An employee of Megafon, the director of some department, Daler Naimov, told Safina TV that the Internet speed in houses is low due to thick walls. He wasn’t kidding. He looked like a serious person,” wrote Rajab Mirzo.
We did not watch this program, but decided to remember what other reasons were given when it came to justifying the poor quality of communication in Tajikistan.
By the way, there is Daler Rakhimov in Megafon-Tajikistan – he heads the company’s department for Dushanbe and RRS.
The ill-fated bullet and expensive phones
Only the lazy did not hear about the bullet that hit the wires and which, apparently, got stuck there for a long time. That’s right – “a bullet hit the wires” – the Communications Service explained the lack of Internet in GBAO in the summer of 2012, when an armed confrontation took place there.
The head of the Service, Beg Zukhurov, said this at a press conference then.
At the same time, answering our question: “Why do some officials have a connection in the region?”, He noted that “some officials love their wives very much, so they buy expensive mobile phones that always keep in touch.”
Since then, Zukhurov has not appeared at the scheduled press conferences that are held by the country’s government structures on the basis of the results of half a year and a year …
High-rise buildings and lack of electricity
At another press conference at the beginning of last year, the Deputy Head of the Communications Service, Ilkhom Atoev, linked the deterioration in the quality of Internet and mobile services with the construction of high-rise buildings and a lack of electricity in the country.
“Yes, the quality of communication and the Internet has become a little worse, there are a lot of complaints. They come from all regions of the country. Many factors affect this: lack of electricity, lack of diesel generators and others,” Atoev said.
Rejoicing at the fact that construction is developing in the country, he nevertheless linked the deterioration of the Internet with the construction of high-rise buildings across the country.
“Multi-storey buildings have appeared, which sometimes create interference in some areas. But this issue has already been resolved, we have given the command to install additional base stations of mobile companies with the appropriate 4G, LTE, etc. standards on all these high-rise buildings. Firstly, this will be done in Dushanbe, RRS, and then in other regions of the country “, Atoev said.
Whether these most additional base stations were installed is unknown, but people continue to complain about the quality of the Internet to this day.
“They don’t know how to use” and “the geography is not the same”
Atoev also said that people spend a lot of money on the Internet because they are not aware of the rules for using the World Wide Web.
“Customers need to monitor what and how spends traffic on their devices: uncontrolled applications can “eat up” most of the tariff plan.”
In addition, bad and expensive internet, according to him, is due to the location of Tajikistan.
He said that even during the Soviet era, prices in Tajikistan differed from those in other countries due to its geographical location.
“In order for the Internet to be high-speed, the entire work schedule of mobile companies must be changed from 3G base stations to 4G,” said the Deputy Chairman of the Communications Service. “This should be done not only in the centers, but also in remote and border areas.”
And questions about the speed of wired Internet, according to Atoev, must be resolved with a specific provider.
“You pay according to the contract and get speed depending on it,” he explained.
Why do we really have bad internet?
In February 2021, the government instructed the Communications Service to improve the speed and quality of the Internet. Two years have passed since then, but most users continue to complain about low speed, disproportionately high rates, and, in principle, the quality of the Internet.
This order, judging by the fact that this year the head of Tajikistan Emomali Rahmon expressed dissatisfaction with the quality of the Internet, has not yet been fulfilled.
After the president spoke about bad internet in his 2023 message to Parliament, the Communications Service promised to improve its speed and lower prices. According to the plan, 450 base stations for 4G should arrive in Tajikistan in the near future. And in the Service they promised to reduce prices for the Internet in the near future due to the implementation of alternative routes – this issue is being studied by economists.
And we want to remind you what actually causes the low speed and poor quality of the Tajik Internet.
ECC that can’t handle network congestion
Experts warned about this even before the ECC was introduced in Tajikistan.
According to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), if the speed of the incoming international Internet channel in Tajikistan in 2015 was 10 GB / per second, then by the end of 2017 it decreased to 4.15.
Today, according to Ilkhom Atoev, the speed of the incoming Internet has increased from 70 GB per second to 100 GB.
In practice, we see a bad Internet and more and more complaints from citizens.
In January 2016, by creating the Unified Switching Center (UCC) at Tajiktelecom OJSC (a division of the Communications Service), the state-owned company received the exclusive right to purchase and distribute Internet traffic, thereby putting all mobile operators at a disadvantage.
The monopolization of the market by the only player, Tajiktelecom, which blocked all alternative sources (gateways and IP addresses), has led to the fact that the company is de facto unable to provide high-quality Internet for all users.
If the Communications Service gave permission to other private companies to purchase and distribute the Internet, then part of the load would fall on the shoulders of new players and competition would improve the quality and reduce prices for the Internet, but this is unlikely to happen, experts are convinced.
Tax pressure
In addition to the obligations of mobile operators to OJSC Tajiktelecom, they also have to endure a tax burden consisting of: 18% VAT, 5% excise, 2.5% license fee, 1% turnover tax.
There is also a mandatory payment for room service and other payments.
This does not include the cost of salaries to employees, the maintenance of equipment to improve the quality of communication and the maintenance of building structures of companies, the cost of electricity, housing and communal services and others.
All this affects the pricing of mobile operators’ tariffs.
In addition, operators sometimes simply do not have free funds to purchase new or additional equipment necessary to improve the quality of communication.
The communication service is understaffed
There are some restrictions on the part of the Communications Service and Tajiktelecom, according to which employees (repairmen) of mobile companies do not have the right to repair their bases or antennas on their own. In such cases, companies apply to the Service or Tajiktelecom for their specialist to go to the site and agree to the repair.
And this is where the problem arises, because the Service and Tajiktelecom have few such technical employees.
“From 2005 to 2012, the Communications Service sent young students and experienced specialists – its employees for advanced training and study abroad. We studied at the State University of Intellectual Technologies and Communications in Odessa, and after graduating from the university we had to work in our specialty at the Communications Service or Tajiktelecom OJSC for five years, – says Shohrukh Sharifzoda, a former employee of the Service. – Our salary was 550 somoni per month and this, of course, was not enough.
Our duties included repairing antennas and stations for mobile Internet (2G, 3G and 4G) in order to provide operators and partners of the OJSC with high-quality communications.”
Shohruh says that many of those graduates quit as a result. And for a long time, due to a shortage of specialists, the technical problems of companies are being solved more slowly than before.
In the meantime, we are in the top five from the end
In the Speedtest Global Index rating, Tajikistan in terms of mobile Internet speed as of December 2022 is in 5th place from the bottom among 141 countries in the world. Below Tajikistan are only Ghana, Venezuela, Cuba and Afghanistan. And among the Central Asian countries, our republic is in last place, not counting Turkmenistan (data for this country are not available).
Everything is bad and at the cost of mobile Internet. In the Worldwide mobile data pricing-2022 ranking, our country ranks 131st in the world with an average price of $1.94 per 1GB.
At a time when neighboring countries are doing much better: Kyrgyzstan is in 6th place ($0.17), Uzbekistan is in 15th ($0.37), Kazakhstan is in 16th ($0.37), and even Afghanistan is in 64th place ($0.90). And Turkmenistan has the most expensive Internet in the world – $14.27 per 1GB on average.
But in terms of the speed of cable (broadband) Internet, Tajikistan is in a better position – in 118th place among 178 countries of the world. In this ranking, Kyrgyzstan is in 83rd place, Uzbekistan is in 89th place, Kazakhstan is in 96th place, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan are in 176-177th places, respectively.
Data on the average cost of cable Internet for all CA countries are not available and therefore it was not possible to compare them.
Source: ASIA-Plus
