Uzbekistan, Central Asia’s most populous nation, is pressing ahead with rapid modernisation of its mobile infrastructure as part of a sweeping digital transformation strategy. A new report highlights both the country’s advances and the challenges it faces in competing with regional peers.
Strong Progress in 4G and Early 5G
All four national mobile network operators, Beeline Uzbekistan, UZTELECOM, Ucell and Mobiuz, are investing heavily in expanding 4G capacity and rolling out 5G. This effort underpins the government’s Uzbekistan 2030 agenda, which aims to achieve full broadband access, mobile coverage along highways and 5G availability in all major cities.
The results are already visible. Average 4G download speed in Uzbekistan has climbed by 32% in just six months, rising from 16Mbps at the end of 2024 to 21.1Mbps in mid-2025, according to Opensignal.
Beeline Uzbekistan Takes the Lead
Beeline Uzbekistan is currently the country’s strongest performer. In the first half of 2025 it delivered the fastest average download speed at 20.2Mbps, ahead of UZTELECOM (17.9Mbps), Ucell (16.2Mbps) and Mobiuz (14.2Mbps). Beeline also leads in Consistent Quality with 33.9%, reflecting the ability to support demanding applications such as video streaming and gaming.
On upload speeds, Beeline, UZTELECOM and Ucell share first place with averages between 5.8 and 6.6Mbps, while Mobiuz lags behind on 4.2Mbps.
Regional Position
Uzbekistan placed third among its Central Asian peers in Opensignal’s Q2 2025 Global Network Excellence Index, and 47th out of 72 large land area markets globally. The country ranks:
- 45th for 4G/5G availability with users connected 82.3% of the time
- 51st for Excellent Consistent Quality with a score of 33.6%
- 47th for download speeds, averaging 21.1Mbps on 4G
Despite these achievements, mobile penetration remains at 94%, trailing behind Kazakhstan (135%) and Kyrgyzstan (167%). Yet with the region’s largest population, rising GDP and expanding digital infrastructure, Uzbekistan remains well placed for future growth.
Kursiv also reports that Starlink will enter the Uzbek market later than expected, in 2026.
