How Central Asia can ensure it doesn’t miss out on a digital f | Review.uz/en - Economic Review

How Central Asia can ensure it doesn’t miss out on a digital future

Nearly half the population in Central Asia is not digitally connected, and many of the unconnected live in rural and remote areas. In fact, three out of the five countries in Central Asia are below the global average in terms of the number of individuals using the internet, writes Lilia Burunchuk, Regional Director of World Bank in Central Asia.

Governments in Central Asia have demonstrated that they can move fast when necessary.

Uzbekistan almost doubled its fiber-optic infrastructure from 36,600 kilometers in 2019 to 68,600 km in 2020, and simplified permits for the construction and launch of cell towers, thus enabling an accelerated rollout of mobile networks.

Central Asian countries need to develop open and competitive telecom markets. They can do this by modernizing the institutional, legal, and regulatory frameworks, bringing them all up to international best practice standards.

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