Perfectum Mobile Operator Privatized
Rubicon Wireless Communication LLC, a mobile operator in Uzbekistan, has undergone a significant ownership change. Entrepreneur Iminov Abdumalik has acquired 100% of the shares of the company, most likely occurring last year. This transfer of ownership was brought to light by Timurmalik Elmurodov, who runs the Telegram channel “Pik skartarisa”.
The company, previously known as Perfectum, was privatized following a presidential decree in October 2020, where it was deemed to have increased investment attractiveness and included in the list of state assets for sale. At the time of privatization, 65% of the shares were held by the state Agency for Management of State Assets, with the remaining 35% owned by Amis Protrade International, a US registered company.
Despite this privatization process, there was no open competition announced for the sale of state-owned shares in Perfectum. The lack of transparency in this privatization has raised questions, with Kun.uz reaching out to the State Assets Management Agency for clarification.
Under the new ownership, Perfectum rebranded to RWC LLC by December 2023. Dmitry Shukov, a seasoned telecom executive with experience in leading MTS and Beeline in Uzbekistan, was appointed to a leadership role within the company during a period of significant transformation.
Abdumalik Iminov, the new owner of RWC, previously had stakes in other businesses but has since divested from those companies. The privatization of Perfectum adds to a series of recent non-transparent sales of government assets in Uzbekistan.
This change in ownership landscape has now left Uzbekistan with three private operators in the mobile communication services market – Beeline (Unitel LLC), Humans (Humans LLC), and RWC LLC. State-owned operators Uzmobile (Uzbektelecom JSC) and UMS (Universal Mobile Systems LLC), as well as Ucell (Coscom LLC) with state participation, also operate in this market.
