Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) – Experts from the Institute for Forecasting and Macroeconomic Research (IPMI) analyzed changes in the digital infrastructure of Uzbekistan for 2017-2022.

The analysis showed that over the period under review, our country has seen a significant improvement in all indicators of digital infrastructure.

In particular:

- the speed of access to the international data transmission network (Internet) increased by 28 times, amounting to 1800 Gbit/s in 2022;

- the cost of Internet tariffs for providers decreased 30 times, in particular, from US$90 in 2017 to US$3 in 2022;

- from 24.5 thousand km in 2017 to 170 thousand km in 2022, the total length of fiber-optic communication lines increased, that is, 7 times;

- the number of base stations for mobile communications has increased by almost 3 times, amounting to 54 thousand in 2022;

- 75% of the population had access to the Internet in 2022 versus 34.5% in 2017;

- the share of subscribers of cellular mobile networks increased from 70% to 86% (an increase of 1.2 times) in 2017-2022.

The development of the digital economy with an increase in its share in GDP by at least 2.5 times by the end of 2026 is defined as the main "driver" in the Strategy "Digital Uzbekistan - 2030". To achieve this goal, a number of comprehensive measures have been developed aimed at developing the market and infrastructure for digital services. In particular:

- it is planned to increase the volume of production of software products by 5 times, and their export - by 10 times up to US$500 million,

- to bring the level of digitalization of production and operational processes in the real sector of the economy, in the financial and banking sectors - up to 70%.

- give priority to the digitalization of urban planning and construction, their development within the framework of the Smart City concept.

Thus, further improvement of the digital infrastructure will contribute to high-quality economic growth, expansion of business opportunities, as well as an increase in the population’s access to education, services and online employment.