VEON Advances Uzbekistan's Digital Economy with New AI and Infrastructure Hubs
Tashkent, Monday, 26 January 2026.
On January 26, 2026, VEON inaugurated a real-time Network Operations Center and launched BuildX in Tashkent. This strategic expansion signals a major shift in Central Asia, aiming to transform Uzbekistan into a technology exporter by developing proprietary AI and software solutions for international markets.
Fortifying Network Resilience
The newly inaugurated Network Operations Center (NOC) in Tashkent serves as a centralized digital command hub for Beeline Uzbekistan. Designed to ensure network resilience, the facility provides 24/7 oversight for more than 5,850 base stations across the country [1][3]. This infrastructure upgrade is critical for maintaining service quality for the operator’s 7.7 million mobile customers, a figure recorded as of September 2025 [2][3]. Beyond standard connectivity monitoring, the center possesses real-time capabilities to detect outages and resolve incidents proactively, minimizing service disruptions for end-users [1][2].
Cultivating a Regional Tech Hub
The launch of BuildX marks a pivot toward software engineering as a core business vertical. Headquartered in Tashkent’s IT Park, this new entity is tasked with developing scalable, export-ready artificial intelligence and digital solutions [1][3]. The unit will service VEON’s own operating companies as well as the external enterprise market [2]. This initiative aligns directly with the Uzbek government’s economic strategy; Minister of Digital Technologies Sherzod Shermatov emphasized that the government is “determined to make our country a regional technology hub” by leveraging robust policies and private sector partnerships [1][2].
Market Context and Regional Footprint
VEON Ltd. (Nasdaq: VEON), which serves nearly 150 million connectivity users across five countries, continues to deepen its footprint in Central Asia [2]. The market has reacted to the company’s ongoing developments, with VEON’s market capitalization standing at approximately $3.8 billion [3]. The stock has demonstrated significant volatility over the last year, trading in a range of $34.55 to $64.00, a spread of 29.45 dollars per share [3]. These infrastructure investments in Uzbekistan occur alongside parallel regional advancements; for instance, Beeline Kazakhstan, another VEON subsidiary, recently commenced construction of a Tier III hyperscale data center in Almaty on January 20, 2026 [5].