Uzbekistan: TV Soap to Tackle Rich World of Telecoms

Soap opera writers in Uzbekistan need not look far for inspiration. 

This spring, the state-run Uzbektelefilm studio is scheduled to release a series on the inner workings of a fictional local mobile phone company, Silkphone. 

The private Podrobno.uz website reports that the 100-part series will be filmed at the Uzbekistan national broadcasting company, O'zbekiston. Director Andrey Afrin says he will employ over 100 actors and the first 20 episodes of “Steps of Life” will air in May and June.

As they turn Silkphone into Uzbekistan’s leading mobile provider, the soap’s main characters – young female manager Dilyafruz and her underlings – will tangle with "important topics such as love and betrayal, problems of morality and rethinking mistakes,” says Podrobno. 

The topic may prompt some observers to snigger: Over the past year two large international telecoms firms working in Uzbekistan have been embroiled in scandals linked to the strongman president’s socialite daughter, Gulnara Karimova. Russian giant MTS was summarily closed and its assets seized last year when authorities accused the company of tax evasion. MTS was forced to write off over $1 billion in assets and said the state was trying to expropriate its business. An appeals court later ordered the assets returned, in exchange for fines and penalties to the tune of $600 million. 

And over the past few months, allegations of bribery have dogged Ucell parent TeliaSonera, the Nordic telecoms giant. Swedish prosecutors are looking into charges the company paid bribes to Karimova in exchange for operating licenses. The TeliaSonera chief stepped down last month, though he denies wrongdoing.

So the bar is high for a fictionalized account of telecoms in Uzbekistan.