Paid services cannot be introduced without subscriber consent

In Uzbekistan, services that were initially provided free of charge may no longer be converted into paid services without the subscriber’s consent. This provision is set out in the new edition of the Rules for the Provision of Telecommunications Services, which was jointly registered by the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Digital Technologies on January 26 this year.

Under the new rules, it is prohibited to deduct subscription fees or service charges from individual subscribers in a way that would cause their account balance to become negative, resulting in debt.

It was also established that subscribers may make free, round-the-clock calls to the hotlines of the Virtual Reception Office of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

In addition, the process of mobile number portability has been significantly simplified. The transfer of mobile numbers will now be carried out within 20 minutes at service centers, instead of the previous eight working hours.

A new procedure has also been introduced for providing content services related to subscriptions to paid value-added services for mobile subscribers. According to the updated rules:

– service activation must be carried out via operators’ mobile applications or USSD codes;
– automatic activation of services or conversion of initially free services into paid ones without obtaining subscriber consent is prohibited;
– all paid services offered to subscribers by content providers must initially be inactive.

The document will enter into force three months after its official publication.