An instruction that was issued by the Antimonopoly Agency on March 4, and under which mobile telecommunication services providers can raise online data prices, is taking effect in Tajikistan.  

Megafon Tajikistan and Tcell have already informed their customers about changes made to prices for mobile communications services.  According to them, the tariffs will be changed during this month. 

Mr. Ghafour Irkayev, the head of the Association of Mobile Operators of Tajikistan, says it cannot be ruled out that the tariffs will be raised within the next ten days.

According to him, the decision on introducing new tariffs has been made after long negotiations and “they [tariffs] have been softened as much as possible for the purpose of protecting the subscriber base.”

Irkayev says the price for one megabyte of mobile Internet will be no less than 0.05 somoni (taxes not included). 

Recall, the Antimonopoly Agency announced on March 4 that as of March 27, mobile telecommunication services providers will be able to sell online data for no less than 0.05 somoni per megabyte (twofold increase) and the price for one minute of mobile international call, including NGN communications, will amount to no less than 1.20 somoni (tenfold increase).

The March 4 order was justified by a curious interpretation of the law of supply and demand.  Rajabali Mahsiddinov, an official with the Antimonopoly Agency, noted that mobile operators would now be in a position to provide better online speeds.  According to him, they commit to increase the Interne speed from 512 megabyte per second to 1,024 megabyte per second.  “Besides, mobile operators should provide 4G and LTE communications in the whole territory of the country,” Mahsiddinov said