Issues related to internet quality in Tajikistan have technical aspects, says Khurshed Faizullozoda, head of the Agency for Innovation and Digital Technologies under the President of Tajikistan.  “About 93% of Tajikistan’s territory is mountainous, which complicates access to the internet,” he said in an interview with Jumhuriyat newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Government of Tajikistan.

According to Faizullozoda, solving this problem requires significant financial investment.

“In mountainous conditions, it is necessary to lay broadband fiber-optic lines, which is very expensive,” he noted.

Faizullozoda emphasized that the government of the republic is taking the necessary measures to address this issue.

“To improve internet quality across the country, large servers are being installed, and fiber-optic lines are being laid in mountainous areas,” the official explained.

He added that projects are being developed in cooperation with development partners to solve this problem.

“In the near future, the country will have full 5G network implementation.  The company Tcell has already launched 5G in some regions,” Faizullozoda said.

He stressed that the contribution of the private sector also plays an important role in improving the level and quality of the internet and digitalization as a whole.

“We are working closely with the private sector in this direction,” he concluded.

Earlier, in April of this year, Isfandiyor Sadullo, head of the Communications Service under the Government of Tajikistan, stated that as part of the "Year of Development of Digital Economy and Innovations," the deployment of 5G networks has been expanded in the country.

“As a result of mutually beneficial cooperation with operators, the cost of importing the internet into the country has been significantly reduced, leading to a decrease in the cost of mobile and wired internet services provided by domestic operators.

As a result, the volume of mobile internet packages will increase by at least 20%. The cost of tariffs for cable internet providers has been reduced on average by 55%, and tariffs with speeds below 5 Mbps have been abolished,” the communications service agency head said.

According to the communications service agency, the total number of subscribers connected to the republic’s telecommunications networks is 8.3 million, of whom 5.3 million are active mobile subscribers.

The total number of mobile and fixed internet users is 4.9 million (53.8%), of which 4.7 million are mobile internet subscribers.

In the April Speedtest Global Index ranking for fixed (wired) internet speed, Tajikistan ranked 117th out of 155 countries. The average download speed was 36.96 Mbps, which is significantly below the global average of 98.3 Mbps.

Among Central Asian countries, Uzbekistan ranked higher (76th place). Kyrgyzstan was 72nd, and Kazakhstan 78th.