Could you give us some background information about your company in terms of its history, main activities and structure today?
Kamalak was created in late 1992. At that time there was an insufficient number of satellite communication and there was also a necessity to introduce our country in the world standard information block. That was possible with the support of our government who helped in a short period of time to create a company jointly with the ministry of communication and American company «MITI» which provides a wide spectrum of information firstly in Tashkent and Tashkent region. Initially there was created Kamalak TV which was broadcasting the Russian, American and British information blocks such as BBC, CNN, etc. In a very short time there was imported a necessary high quality equipment, receiving and transforming equipment, etc.
In 1994 there was another idea which presumed paging communication services. At the present time Kamalak TV has two main activities such as broadcasting the channels of foreign countries and providing paging services in every region of the country. People are very happy with it because they have access to very high quality TV services and paging services that we provide where they can get confidential information. As people started to realize how useful our services are, more people started signing up to them. Today we broadcast 18 foreign channels and last year we started to work on a cable television which gives us the opportunity to increase the number of channels. Thereby we have created a positive image among other companies due to the high quality services, quick customer services and a stable provision of services.
Today we have more than 30 thousand subscribers signed up for our TV services and about 10 thousand subscribers for our paging communication services.
Our future activities include covering the whole territory of Tashkent and Tashkent region with cable television services which will be at more affordable price. Our first project has started with the surrounding districts of the TV tower in Tashkent where we offer more channels for lesser price. This project has gained support of the city mayor who approved our efforts and we have agreed with him that we would provide cable TV services for the newly constructed buildings, offices, cultural centers, etc.
We have some other projects which presume to gain about 200 thousand subscribers in Tashkent over time, and also we are trying to extend our services towards other regions of Uzbekistan.
I should note the fact that we are also trying to develop paging communication services in other regions and we are intended to provide roaming communication. Next year we are planning to implement Internet providing services through our MMDS TV network by which we will be able to transfer information much more faster.
Are you looking for partners to work with you ?
We do this based on the decision of the board of directors and shareholders, and I believe that they would be interested in cooperating with other partners because providing TV and paging communication services seem not enough for us.
Probably paging services are not highly demanded in other countries but even though the number of cellular services operators is increasing there is still demand for our paging services due to a higher confidentiality. We believe this business is more advantageous for us because the profits are maximum while expenses are minimum.
How do you see your contribution to Uzbekistan on a social and economic level?
First of all we provide people access to information and accordingly we pay all the taxes to the state in time while the state has not invested anything. More important is that there are more than 300 people employed by our company through which they increase their prosperity and self-development. As we rebroadcast foreign channels in different languages our employees have a greater chance of learning those languages. The channels like Cartoon network, Nickelodeon, etc. are very much in demand of children and young people. | Are there any new international channels you want to bring here?
In average we will introduce 3 or 4 new channels. We constantly negotiate with the Russian TV broadcasting companies like NTV, NTV+, but also we negotiate with some other British and American companies. At the moment we have many channels in different languages like English, French, even Korean, etc. Next year we are planning to cooperate with «Discovery» channel where we are going to broadcast 24 hours seven days a week - 12 hours in English, 12 hours in Russian. We also include some of the Uzbek channels so that the customers do not have to change the position of our antennas. Because of the high quality service people even watch Uzbek channels through the Kamalak system.
How would you describe your image in Uzbekistan?
It is too early for us to overestimate our achievements and we are not yet satisfied with what we have done so far. Our main goal is to provide better services of high quality. I believe this is one of the reasons all the hotels and embassies in Tashkent are signed up to our services. We are not monopolists, but rather we are just one of the first companies involved in such business.
Probably over time we will be focusing on «less fees - more subscribers» than vice-versa.
By the way we were awarded grant by «Euro-Market» after a comprehensive marketing research they did.
Of course there are still some problems we still have to solve and we put very much efforts for moving ahead.
Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself, and what have been your major achievements since you became General Director of the company ?
My field is communication. Having graduated from the Communication Institute under the ministry of communication I have worked in a telephone network company and thereby I am very much familiar with the TV - radio broadcasting and paging systems. I achieved this status starting from the basic knowledge and through hard work and constant learning. I used to work as a chief of department of the post Soviet Union telephone network. Then I was assigned as a director of the Tashkent city telephone network. When this company was created I was assigned as a GM to this company.
What message would you address to our readers and potential investors ?
Uzbekistan is a very young country. I wish more people could find out about it day by day. I wish peace in the whole world to prevail and let the partnership develop between us.
The field we are involved in is not yet fully explored. As this is the case I would be very glad to invite foreign investors to cooperate with us for a better future. They all understand that the world changes and the people's preferences change as over time as well and that is why we should work even hard to satisfy their wants. |
