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Uzbekistan’s Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights has granted preliminary approval for the acquisition of 100 percent of shares in AO Rubicon Wireless Communication, the company that operates the mobile network known as Perfectum, by VEON UZB Holding Ltd, a UAE-registered entity within the Veon group. The approval comes with seven binding conditions designed to protect subscribers and preserve competition in the country’s mobile market.
VEON UZB Holding Ltd already owns 100 percent of Unitel, the Uzbek subsidiary that operates under the Beeline brand, making the Perfectum deal a significant consolidation of the country’s telecoms sector under a single corporate parent. The Committee’s Special Commission reviewed the application and concluded that preliminary consent could be granted, but only subject to strict behavioural obligations.
What Veon must do
Under the conditions attached to the approval, Perfectum must continue to operate as an independent mobile operator for at least three years, and the company is required to extend its 5G Standalone technology to additional regions of Uzbekistan. Existing Perfectum subscribers must have their current 5G Fixed Wireless Access tariffs preserved for at least 12 months, while new subscribers must be offered preferential terms; average internet speeds may not fall below 300 Mbit/s.
The conditions also prohibit the new owner from imposing contractual terms unrelated to the core service, or from restricting subscribers’ freedom to switch to rival operators. Veon is explicitly barred from pressuring Perfectum customers into using digital platforms belonging to the Beeline or Veon group, and from limiting their access to competing services. Any deterioration in service quality for existing subscribers is deemed impermissible.
On data protection, the approval requires that subscriber personal and commercial data be safeguarded and not used in any way that restricts competition. Transferring such data to servers outside Uzbekistan in breach of national legislation is prohibited. The acquiring company is also required to comply with Uzbekistan’s Law on Competition and to maintain a healthy competitive environment in the market.
The Committee’s decision reflects a broader regulatory concern: that a single corporate group controlling two of the country’s mobile operators could otherwise use its combined market position to squeeze out rivals, lock in subscribers or leverage data assets against competitors. The seven conditions are intended to keep those risks in check while permitting the transaction to proceed.