Tajikistan proposes a Dushanbe call to action on landlocked connectivity

Tajikistan's Communication Service presented a draft "Dushanbe Call to Action on Resilient Digital Connectivity for Landlocked Developing Countries, 2026 to 2034" at the International Telecommunication Union's regional forum for the CIS in Dushanbe on 29 and 30 September, the ITU's draft outcome report says.

The report puts the Partner2Connect portfolio targeting the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) region at 68 pledges from 43 entities with an estimated value of $2.29 billion, with implementation information reported for 19 of the pledges, or 28 per cent.

The report does not list the pledges, their sponsors or the countries they serve, and does not say how much of the $2.29 billion has been spent. It is marked as a draft, with comments invited until 15 October 2026.

The Dushanbe proposal

Parviz Noriyon, first deputy head of the Communication Service under the Government of Tajikistan, set out six areas for cooperation: resilient and diversified connectivity, lower-cost digital transit, green digital corridors and data centres, financing and preparation of bankable projects, artificial intelligence, and shared digital public infrastructure, the report says. He described route diversification and redundancy as development priorities for landlocked countries "rather than purely technical choices".

The draft call to action sets out six pillars, an open commitments registry and annual reporting, "without creating new institutions or legal obligations". Noriyon proposed that countries nominate national coordinators by the end of November 2026, submit initial partner commitments by the end of December and hold a first coordination meeting in Dushanbe in the first quarter of 2027. The report does not say which governments have endorsed the draft.

Isfandiyori Sadullo, head of the Communication Service and chair of the forum, asked for ITU technical support for Tajikistan's Communications Sector Development Strategy to 2040 and for a feasibility study for a Digital Village initiative. He also proposed work on a mechanism to improve the affordability and quality of international roaming across Central Asia and the CIS; the report records "different views" on roaming, including the need to account for eSIM and over-the-top services.

Coverage claims from the neighbours

Jamol Makhsudov, Uzbekistan's deputy minister of digital technologies, said more than 99.5 per cent of settlements are covered by mobile internet and 98 per cent have access to fibre-optic lines. Altynbek Toktorbaev, chairman of the Kyrgyz Republic's Communications Regulation and Supervision Service, cited about 3,500 km of fibre built and connectivity for about 99 per cent of settlements, with satellite solutions for the remaining mountainous areas. A Kyrgyz regulator official described a pilot that brought satellite internet to a high-mountain school in Issyk-Kul region.

The report records these as statements by officials. It does not give the period the Kyrgyz fibre figure covers or the source of the Uzbek coverage data. ITU's regional director put internet use across the CIS at 93 per cent in 2025.

Tcell's chief executive, Ozodkhon Davlatshoev, spoke on mobilising finance for connectivity and on "green, lower-cost data-centre infrastructure supported by Tajikistan's energy resources", the report says, without figures. After a presentation by the director general of GSOA, the satellite operators' association, the discussion stressed blanket licensing for user terminals and "cost-recovery-based spectrum fees rather than auction models".

The forum, organised by the ITU and co-hosted by Tajikistan's Communication Service, ran back to back with a meeting of the Regional Commonwealth in the Field of Communications, the ITU's event page says. Separately, an ITU project in Tajikistan has produced a regulatory assessment covering AI, digital public infrastructure, cybersecurity and innovation, and held AI policy training in Dushanbe on 3 and 4 September for more than 30 specialists, including from telecom operators, according to an ITU update of 18 September.

The next dates are the end of November, for coordinators under the Dushanbe proposal, and publication of the final outcome report after the comment period.