Beeline's licences in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan list no 5G, VEON's annual report shows

VEON's operators in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan ended 2025 without a 5G licence or 5G service among the rights they list, according to the group's annual report on Form 20-F filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission in March. Beeline Kazakhstan, which VEON describes as the country's largest private telecoms operator with 11.8 million mobile customers, offers 3G and 4G/LTE. Beeline Uzbekistan offers 2G, 3G and 4G/LTE to more than 7.7 million mobile customers, 77 per cent of them on 4G. The filing sets out a spectrum history in Kazakhstan that runs from 1998 to 2016 and then stops.

That matters because 5G in Kazakhstan has so far been built by the other side of the market. In June 2024 the government said Kcell and Tele2 were extending 5G in the largest cities and regional centres, and set the end of 2025 as the date to complete its introduction, according to a government release. Kcell reported 3,034 5G base stations and 64.29 per cent population coverage at the end of June 2026, according to its first-half results.

The licence record

Method: every row comes from VEON's Form 20-F for 2025, which lists the business licences of KaR-Tel (Beeline Kazakhstan) and Unitel (Beeline Uzbekistan) as of 31 December 2025 together with upfront spectrum payments in Kazakhstan. Rows marked 5G record the absence of any 5G licence, band or service in those tables and in the descriptions of mobile services. The 20-F does not itemise Uzbek frequency bands beyond the GSM licence.

What Beeline holds, and what it pays

In Kazakhstan, KaR-Tel's mobile licence dates from 24 August 1998 and has no fixed expiry. It holds permission to use the 800, 900, 1800 and 2100 MHz bands for mobile services, and the 2.3 to 2.4 GHz, 2.5 to 2.6 GHz, 3.3 to 3.5 GHz and 5.5 GHz bands for wireless access to the internet, the filing says. The 3.3 to 3.5 GHz holding sits in the range used for 5G in many markets, but the filing lists it as fixed wireless access, not mobile. Under the tax code, KaR-Tel paid KZT 8.2 billion in annual spectrum fees for mobile in 2025, about US$15.8 million, plus KZT 231 million for the wireless-access bands and KZT 4.5 billion as a mobile services payment.

In Uzbekistan, Unitel's GSM, 3G and 4G/LTE licences run to 7 August 2031, and its international and inter-city communication licences expire in 2026. Unitel paid US$6.66 million in annual spectrum fees and US$4.16 million in licence fees in 2025, according to the filing. VEON cites GSMA Intelligence for market shares, putting Unitel's customers at 7.6 million against 11.6 million for Ucell, 11 million for UzMobile and 3.7 million for Mobiuz, and notes that regulatory disclosures on customer numbers are not available in Uzbekistan.

How VEON describes the risk

The filing is explicit that 5G may need new rights. "If our current licenses and spectrum do not account for 5G technology we may require additional or supplemental licenses and spectrum to implement 5G technology," VEON says in its risk factors. Among the risks to its strategy it lists "regulatory expectations around the premature adoption of 5G in some of our markets". It does not name the markets.

The same document gives one constraint specific to Kazakhstan. The law there bars a foreign company or individual from owning, directly or indirectly, more than 49 per cent of an entity that carries out long-distance or international telecommunications or owns fixed communication lines without the consent of the authorities, the filing says. That applies to the fixed side of a business that already holds an unlimited long-distance and international licence.

Beeline Kazakhstan has spent its effort elsewhere. KaR-Tel's tower transfers left more than 1,758 towers on the balance sheet of VEON's KazTowerCo unit at the end of 2025, according to the 20-F, and in September 2026 it launched Starlink's satellite-to-mobile service in Kazakhstan, according to a VEON release. The 20-F also says that, after a commercial agreement signed in September 2025, Beeline Kazakhstan planned to launch satellite messaging first and data connectivity as a later phase.

The 20-F frames 5G as a licensing question in some markets rather than a network one. For Kazakhstan, the questions are whether further 5G spectrum will be offered, on what terms, and whether the 3.3 to 3.5 GHz holding can be repurposed. For Uzbekistan, the 2031 expiry of the mobile licences gives a horizon by which any 5G rights would need to be settled.