175 operators in the republic have a license in the field of telecommunications

The Ministry of Communications and Informatization, as a regulatory body, ensures the full and comprehensive development of information and communication infrastructure to meet the growing needs of the state, business and citizens in obtaining modern and high-quality telecommunication services.

It should be noted that as of April 1, 2023, 175 telecommunication operators have a license in the field of telecommunications.

The main direction of the development of the telecommunications network of RUE Beltelecom is the completion of the process of switching subscribers to the software and hardware IMS platform, which allows providing subscribers with the full range of modern telecommunications services on a single subscriber line. At the end of the reporting quarter, 3,753.3 thousand subscribers were connected to the IMS platform. The construction of multiservice networks allows not only to improve the quality and expand the list of services provided, but also to optimize the costs of operating telecommunication networks.

Taking into account the development of data transmission network services, the number of connections to broadband access services is growing, which also affects the width of the external Internet access channel. The external gateway for Internet access is also constantly being expanded to improve the quality of Internet access services, redundancy and reduce the load on individual directions.

In January-March 2023, the width of the external channel for Internet access was increased by 510 Gbit/s and amounted to 3,280 Gbit/s on April 1, 2023. In order to modernize existing data transmission networks to improve the quality and volume of services provided, work continued on connecting subscribers using passive optical network technology (GPON), which allows for data transfer speeds of up to 100 Mbit/s and higher.

As of April 1, 2023, the number of subscribers connected using this technology amounted to about 2,913.9 thousand and has increased by more than 3.3 thousand since the beginning of the year.

In total, the number of subscribers of fixed broadband Internet access amounted to 3,139.1 thousand with an increase of 14 thousand by the beginning of the year, while the penetration rate of fixed broadband Internet access per 100 residents was 34.1 units.

It is worth noting the active development of the Internet protocol television service. In January-March 2023, the number of IP-TV subscribers amounted to 2,488.5 thousand subscribers.

Further development of cellular mobile telecommunication services has been ensured. As of April 1, 2023, the total number of mobile telecommunication subscribers in the republic amounted to 11,725 thousand. The penetration rate of cellular mobile telecommunications in the republic amounted to 127.4 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. Cellular mobile telecommunications of the second and third generation cover 99.3 percent and 98.6 percent of the territory of the republic, respectively, where 99.9 percent of the population lives.

The LTE cellular mobile telecommunication network and services based on it were actively developing.

During the reporting period, 33 base stations of the LTE standard were put into operation, which allowed to increase the coverage of the population with mobile telecommunication services of this standard to 98.0 percent.

The development of cellular mobile telecommunication networks of the third and fourth generation ensures stable growth of subscribers of wireless broadband Internet access: the number of subscribers who used the service of wireless broadband Internet access in January-April 2023 amounted to 7,911.6 with a penetration of 86.0 units per 100 inhabitants.