"Now, the number of Internet subscribers in the country has reached 4.5 million, which corresponds to 45 subscribers per 100 inhabitants. However, I emphasize that the speed and cost of the Internet are still not satisfactory."

From the message of the President of the country, Honorable Emomali Rahmon, to the Majlisi Oli of the Republic of Tajikistan (December 23, 2022)

According to the available data, the internet speed in Central Asian countries is as follows: Kazakhstan (62.04 Mbps), Kyrgyzstan (50.64 Mbps), Uzbekistan (46.94 Mbps), Tajikistan (32. 96 Mbps) and Turkmenistan (3.91 Mbps). These figures indicate that the internet service is not in a very good condition. This is despite the fact that the total income of infrastructure enterprises of communication services and private operators and providers in the first half of 2022 amounted to 1 billion 660 million 508 thousand 723 somoni, which is equal to 114.2 percent compared to the first half of the previous year. That is, year after year residents spend a lot of money for communication and the Internet, but still services are not provided at the required level.

INTERNET STATUS

The President of the country, honorable Emomali Rahmon, in his message "On the main directions of the internal and foreign policy of the republic" pointed to the importance of internet speed and improving the level of services in the sector, and emphasized, among other things: its affordable price is necessary for the development of the digital economy, artificial intelligence, ensuring information security, attracting capital and creating technological and innovative parks."

It should be recognized that at present all spheres of economic, social, political and cultural life of the population depend on the internet, and the development of one without the development of the other is almost impossible. Unfortunately, we do not pay enough attention to the field of communication.

According to the Communications Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, the total number of SIM cards of mobile communication users is 7 million 943 thousand 309, of which 5 million 460 thousand 504 are active customers. Also, 45 percent of the total population of the country are internet users, but most of them are dissatisfied with the level of service.

Unfortunately, most internet users complain about its low speed in the country, but this issue still remains unsolved.

Also, the President of the country, his excellency Emomali Rahmon, in his message tasked the officials of the Communication Service to work together with companies operating in the field to improve the quality of services, reduce the cost of mobile communication and internet services, and make high-speed internet available in all regions of the country, including cities and districts remote, take the necessary measures.

Unfortunately, in our society, social networks never reduce the cost of services, but from time to time they even increase the cost of services.

COMMUNICATION SERVICE CONFIRMED THAT THERE IS A PROBLEM

On January 30 of this year, during a press conference, the deputy head of the Communications Service under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan, Ilhomjon Atoev, said that the level and quality of mobile Internet in the country is really low.

Ilhomjon Atoev added that they have established a headquarters to review the price and speed of the internet, and it is hoped that its level and quality will improve.

"Experts and mobile companies are obliged to increase the bases that connect the client with the mobile internet system. The way of arbitrarily turning off or tearing down the bases should also be avoided," he added.

Also, he mentioned that economic, political and technological work has been carried out on the price of the internet, and it will be implemented in the coming days.

INFORMATION WARS AND INTERNET SPEED

Ensuring information security is one of the most important and difficult issues in our conditions. It is important to remember that information security is an important branch of national security. The problem is that due to the not so good service in the field of communication, we are not always able to provide it.

As the head of the Strategic Research Center under the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, Zubaidullo Davlatov said, the most important factor in ensuring information security is that mass media should convey to society the essence of national and international political, social, economic and cultural events at a high level of professionalism.

- If the level of mass media is increased, the intensity of the influence of any unfounded and false information in the media and social networks by terrorist and extremist organizations and interested parties can be reduced. Because it is human nature to trust the first information found. Confidence and trust in the information of the official media essentially increases trust and confidence in the authorities and the Government, he added.

Accelerating the speed of work (flowing information) of information sources, being the first media to broadcast the article, influencing the public opinion of journalistic articles and keeping the audience safe from falsehoods is always and in all cases related to the speed of the Internet. We have faced this problem many times, but... Even the Internet speed of important offices and enterprises is not available as it should be, and sometimes we find that Zoom cannot be connected due to the low Internet speed.

In this case, our interlocutor added that in order to ensure the information security of the republic, first of all, it is necessary to promote the development of mass media and fill the empty information space in the country.

At the end of September last year, due to the unrest on the border with the Kyrgyz Republic, the activists of both countries were involved in information battles, but in those days the Internet speed was low, which was complained by ordinary users, bloggers and famous people.

All this points to the fact that we should think about the issue of improving the level and quality of services in the field of communication and solve the existing problems.

Also, Zubaidullo Davlatov proposed to carry out reforms in the country's information sector in order to ensure and strengthen information security.

- I mean personnel, ideological, technical, scientific and ideological reform of the entire information structure of the republic. These reforms should be planned for the medium term. Involvement of scientists of the National Academy of Sciences of Tajikistan, qualified technical specialists, veterans of the field, organization of the institute of improvement of specialization in the field of information is only for the benefit of work, - he expressed.

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Ruzimuhammad Ismoilov