Uzbek-US joint venture Coscom, Uzbekistan’s third largest mobile operator, plans to increase investments 50% on the year to US US$15 million this year, the company said Monday.

Coscom said it had already invested over US$7 million in January-May. The operator plans to launch shortly WAP and GPRS everywhere in Uzbekistan and add 200 base stations this year, compared to 150 last year, Prime-Tass reported.

The investments will be financed by the founders’ private funds and the operator’s net profit, Coscom said.

Investment in Coscom has topped US$100 million since operations started in 1996.

In February, Coscom had its license suspended for 10 days due to some network malfunctions.

The US’ MCT Corporation holds 85% in Coscom, which currently has 410,000 users. There are currently six mobile operators in Uzbekistan, which had 3.415 million users as of 1 May, according to Uzbekistan’s Communications and IT Agency.