Uzbekistan plans to launch satellite internet in test mode in 2026, Prime Minister Abdulla Aripov said on March 27 at the Digital Qazaqstan 2026 forum in Shymkent. He said the project is aimed at connecting remote and hard-to-reach areas, and the government has prepared a package of tax incentives for satellite internet operators. Reports Spot.uz.
Aripov said the country has made major progress in digital development over the past nine years. Broadband internet coverage has increased from 41% to 99.5%, while network capacity has grown 40 times. He also said that combining e-government systems in one data center helped cut budget spending by 30%.
According to the prime minister, Uzbekistan is now completing a major computing cluster that will serve as the basis for a national artificial intelligence infrastructure. He said this should help move AI projects from pilot stages to large-scale industrial use. At present, the country has a portfolio of 100 promising AI projects.
As an example, Aripov pointed to Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Combine's recently launched copper processing plant No. 3, where more than 60 systems and 20,000 sensors are linked in a single digital network for real-time analysis. He also said Uzbekistan has created an AI Alliance, is opening 19 research and training laboratories, and now has 800 startup projects, 60 of which are already exporting.
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