DUSHANBE, May 17, 2010, Asia-Plus — On Friday May 14, Tajikistan’s fixed-line telecommunications network stopped access of its customers to the cellular operator, Tacom, which offers telecommunications services in Tajikistan under the trademark of Beeline.
The Deputy Transport and Communications Minister, Beg Zuhurov, told Asia-Plus today that specialists from the ministry’s Communications Regulatory Agency jointly with officers from the State Committee for National Security (GKNB) have been inspecting telecommunications along Tajikistan’s common border with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. A number of violations committed by Tacom have been revealed,” the deputy minister said.
According to him, Tacom has illegally installed radio-relay station at the border with Afghanistan. “We have cut off the line connected to the station, which affects telecommunications services in Dushanbe,” said Zuhurov, “They must draw all documents properly and after that, we will open the line.”
He also added that Tacom now owed 160,000 U.S. dollars to Tajik Telecom. “Numerous violations have been recorded in activities of other cellular operators as well,” the deputy minister said, noting that inspection is going on.
In the meantime, Tajik Telecom and Tacom refrained from giving comments on the situations.
Tacom is licensed to provide cellular communication services in Tajikistan in the GSM-900/1800, UMTS, CDMA-450, and AMPS standards. VimpelCom, the second largest cell-phone operator in the Russian Federation providing telecommunications services under the Beeline brand, now assumes the 80% ownership interest in Tacom.
