The Singapore-based Humans Mobile PTE Ltd., which owns the Humans brand in Uzbekistan, has initiated arbitration proceedings against Uzbekistan at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) at the World Bank.

The claim was registered on May 30 with ref. number ARB/25/24 and is pending. The defendant is the Department for Legal Protection of Interests of Uzbekistan under the Ministry of Justice.

The basis for filing the claim was the alleged violation of the bilateral Agreement between the Governments of Uzbekistan and Singapore on the Promotion and Protection of Investments dated July 15, 2003.

The company saidthat its rights were violated by a number of government agencies, including the Central Bank and Uzbektelecom. In particular, this concerns actions against the payment organization Maroqand (brand UPay), whose activities were suspended for six months in September 2024 by decision of the Central Bank. Then the governor of the regulator Mamarizo Nurmuratov said that the decision was related to the identified cases of transferring individuals' funds to the accounts of bookmakers.

Later, on March 26, the Banking Supervision Committee lifted the restriction on some of Maroqand's operations. The Central Bank's notice was edited on April 17.

Vladimir Dobrynin, CEO and founder of Humans Group, said that arbitration proceedings are a "civilized tool for protecting investors from unfair administration." The size of the suit has not been disclosed. At the same time, the company expects that the case will contribute to "strengthening the principles of fair and predictable regulation" in Uzbekistan.

"We have always believed and continue to believe in Uzbekistan and its citizens. We sincerely admire the efforts made by the president to modernize the economy, digitalize and expand entrepreneurial freedoms. We understand that on the path to transformation there are opponents who undermine efforts to create a free market, increase openness and accelerate growth. We are for the transformation of Uzbekistan - with the rule of law and without the arbitrariness of officials," commented the CEO and founder of Humans Group Vladimir Dobrynin, whose statement is quoted by a number of foreign media.

Central Bank’s reaction

The press service of the Central Bank confirmed that Humans Mobile PTE LTD had indeed filed a complaint to the international center on May 20 to initiate arbitration proceedings against Uzbekistan.

The arbitration center accepted the plaintiff's application for proceedings. The case is currently at the stage of preparation for consideration on the merits. Additional details will be provided as the proceedings progress.

"Due to the fact that in the payment organization JSC "Marokand" the funds of individuals were expended to services (gambling), the sale and provision of which are prohibited by law, from September 25, 2024, the execution of certain payment transactions by this organization had beens limited for a period of six months. Also, documents related to the identified violations in the activities of the payment organization were transferred to law enforcement agencies for a legal assessment,” the statement said.

The company stated in October that the regulator’s actions violated the law, “contradicted the principles of fair market regulation and created serious obstacles to doing business.” Humans reported that it had not received a preliminary order to eliminate the violations and learned about the decision from the media.

Complaint against Uzbektelecom

In May Humans requested the Competition Development and Consumer Rights Protection Committee to open an antitrust case against Uzbektelecom. The company believes that the state operator set a “monopolistically high price” for services and created discriminatory conditions by reducing the Internet speed for Humans due to the presence of debt.

Humans claims that, without its own telecommunications infrastructure, it uses the Uzbektelecom network based on an agreement dated May 22, 2020. Since 2021, the basic tariffs for Internet data transmission via the Gn interface have not changed, despite a significant decrease in the market value of the Internet.

“This contradicts economic logic and antitrust regulations,” the company claims.

Humans points out that from 2020 to 2023, the price for 1 GB of traffic on the international market fell from $1.34 to $0.3, international switching center services became cheaper by 45%, and the cost of 4G services decreased significantly due to the introduction of LTE. However, Uzbektelecom’s basic tariffs remained at the level of June 2021.

The company states that the share of infrastructure costs reached 58% of the cost, which makes the business model unprofitable and violates free competition.

Humans also reported debt under contracts with Uzbektelecom, which, according to the company, arose due to monopolistically high prices. In response to attempts to resolve the situation, the operator warned of a gradual reduction in Internet speed, as well as the possible termination of services and legal action.