VEON Acquires 100% of Perfectum Operator in Uzbekistan for $207 Million
The deal will allow Beeline Uzbekistan to obtain ready-to-use 5G Standalone equipment from Nokia
International telecommunications holding VEON (the parent company of Beeline Uzbekistan) has officially announced the conclusion of an agreement to acquire 100% of the shares of Rubicon Wireless Communication, which provides communication services under the Perfectum brand. The total value of the deal amounts to approximately $207 million, including net cash consideration and the assumption of the acquired operator's debt obligations totaling $93 million.
VEON is financing the cash portion of the purchase from its own funds. All necessary approvals from Uzbekistan's regulators have already been obtained, and the final closing of the deal is scheduled by the end of October 2026.
As a result of the acquisition, VEON expects to significantly utilize Perfectum's technological infrastructure. Radio frequency spectrum: the holding gains 115 MHz of frequencies in the 850 and 3800 MHz bands, increasing Beeline Uzbekistan's existing frequency resources by approximately 50%. 5G infrastructure: Beeline will take over a deployed 5G Standalone (SA) network built on equipment from the Finnish vendor Nokia.
Cost optimization: the integration of the two operators' networks will allow for increased throughput of the existing 4G/LTE infrastructure, accelerate the deployment of wireless broadband access, and reduce future capital (CAPEX) and operational (OPEX) expenditures.
VEON Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu noted that the investment underscores the holding's confidence in Uzbekistan's digital future as one of the key growth markets. Meanwhile, Beeline Uzbekistan CEO Evgeny Nastradin added that the team's main task will be the efficient integration of Perfectum's frequencies and equipment to meet growing customer traffic. However, the official statement does not yet specify whether the Perfectum brand will be retained or how the servicing of the operator's current subscriber base will change.
Deal history: from partnership with Vodafone to regulatory approval Negotiations for the purchase were underway throughout 2026. In July, the Competition Development Committee of Uzbekistan approved the acquisition of a 50% stake in Rubicon Wireless Communication by investor Farkhod Mamajonov (the majority shareholder of InfinBank). At that time, Perfectum's ownership structure was as follows: Farkhod Mamajonov — 50%, LLC IMC-Capital — 41.23%, Kamron Akbarov — 8.77% (prior to privatization in early 2024, the company belonged to entrepreneur Abdumalik Iminov).
Initially, in August 2024, Perfectum planned to develop a 5G Standalone network worth 250 million euros in a strategic partnership with the British giant Vodafone. However, by August 2026, Mamajonov informed President Shavkat Mirziyoyev during a meeting that, instead of Vodafone, the operator had opted for the attractive terms offered by VEON, having agreed on investment attraction. The application for approval of the economic concentration deal was submitted to the antimonopoly authority on July 24, after which the review process was taken under the personal control of the head of state.
VEON's presence in the region VEON Group (shares traded on the Nasdaq in the U.S.) has been operating in Uzbekistan's telecommunications market through its subsidiary LLC Unitel under the Beeline Uzbekistan brand since September 2006, being one of the country's largest digital operators.