Uzdunrobita

Uzdunrobita is the largest mobile phone operator in Uzbekistan.

Uzdunrobita was founded on August 19, 1991, as a joint venture between a group of American investors, the International Communications Group, with a 45% stake; and the government of what was then the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic, with a 55% stake. When Uzbekistan declared independence several weeks later, the registration of the joint venture was shifted from Moscow to Tashkent, with the government stake taken over by the independent Uzbek government. Shortly thereafter, to overcome a shortage of capital, the American investors sold more than half their stake to a group of Pakistani investors, for $2 million and a stake in a Pakistani pay-phone company. The Uzbek government additionally provided free equipment and use of its engineers and staff.[1]

The company first turned a profit in 1993. By 1996, it had $50 million in annual revenues, 7,000 subscribers, and employed 224 staff.[1] Gulnora Karimova gained control of the firm in the late 1990s or early 2000s,[2] and by 2005 it was 74% owned by Russia's Mobile TeleSystems, which paid $121 million for the stake.[3] In 2006 it was reported to have 250,000 subscribers, ahead of Daewoo Unitel, which had 100,000, and a number of much smaller firms.[4]

By the end of 2010 the company reached 8 millions subscribers mark.

References

  1. ^ a b Robert J. Mockler (2002). Multinational Strategic Management. Haworth Press. p. 80. ISBN 0789014750. 
  2. ^ Kathleen Collins (2006). Clan Politics and Regime Transition in Central Asia. Cambridge University Press. p. 271. ISBN 0521839505. 
  3. ^ Martin C. Spechler; Dina R. Spechler (2005). "Conflict and Cooperation in Central Asia After 9/11". In Ariel Cohen. Eurasia in Balance: The US and the Regional Power Shift. Ashgate Publishing. p. 20. ISBN 0754644499. 
  4. ^ Nikita E. Lisitsyn; Sergei F. Sutyrin; Olga Y. Trofimenko; Irina V. Vorobieva (2006). "Russian Telecommunication Company MTS Goes to the CIS". In Kari Liuhto. Expansion or Exodus: Why Do Russian Corporations Invest Abroad?. Haworth Press. p. 140. ISBN 0789032864.