The communications service agency has begun the process of monopolization of the SMS-message service in favor of an offshore company IRIS, participants of Tajikistan’s telecommunications market told Asia-Plus on the basis of anonymity.
This relates to SMS-messages, which taxi companies, banks, online-services, bookies and other organizations and companies send to their customers through SMPP gateways of mobile operators.
Mobile operators in Tajikistan are reportedly already notifying their partners (market participants) that disconnects have begun and recommend contacting the Communications Service to connect via a single gateway of IRIS Company.
The telecommunications market participants will now have to conclude contracts with this, according to some sources, offshore company, about which it is not yet possible to obtain sufficient information.
As a result of monopolization of the market, SMS distributions for legal entities will rise in price, according to some data, up to 60 times – from 0.5 diram to 30 diram (from 0.05 somoni to 0.3 somoni). This means a rise in the price of mobile communications for all users.
At the same time, permanent failures are expected, because a single gateway is unlikely to be able to cope with the huge flow of notifications in a timely manner.
“Hundreds of companies in the country use similar services, the volumes of SMS messages are colossal, and a single gateway will not withstand such loads. As a result, there will be constant failures,” specialists say.
But the biggest problem is that an unknown company will have access to personal data and the personal correspondence of every Internet user.
Meanwhile, the communications service agency categorically denies monopolization of the market. “This is fake, I don't know anything about it. There ought to figure out who is spreading this false information,” the deputy head of the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan, Ilhom Atoyev, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
