The Tashkent Commercial Court upheld a lawsuit filed by the Uzbek communications regulator annuling the licenses of the Russian mobile firm MTS’ Uzdunrobit subsidiary, a source familiar with the matter told Prime news agency on Monday.
The Uzbekistan Communications and Information Technology Agency filed a $210 million lawsuit against Uzdunrobit last week, claiming the subsidiary’s branches in Uzbekistan were operating illegitimately without separate licenses.
MTS confirmed this information to Prime news agency. The Russian mobile operator says it will appeal against the court’s ruling within ten days, an MTS spokesman said.
The Uzbekistan Communications and Information Technology Agency suspended Uzdunrobit’s license on July 17, initially for 10 working days, for what it said where “repeated and systematic gross violations, and also for failure to comply with the regulator’s directions.”
The order came into force on the same day. The Tashkent Commercial Court extended the license suspension for another three months, citing Uzdunrobit’s failure to comply with the regulator’s directions.
The management of MTS, one of Russia’s top three mobile phone operators, said the license suspension was illegitimate and sent an official appeal to Uzbekistan’s President Islam Karimov to clarify the situation and settle the conflict with its subsidiary.
In late June, the Uzbek Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case against a group of Uzdunrobit officials, accusing them of numerous gross violations of the law and widespread use of illegal tax evasion schemes.
Uzbekistan’s antimonopoly watchdog has also fined Uzdunrobit telecom firm about $80 million for what it claimed was a violation of antimonopoly and consumer protection laws and laws governing advertisements.