The key facts

  • A Chinese company will enter Uzbekistan's taxi market with 5,000 vehicles and its own app — according to First Deputy Minister of Transport Mamanbiy Omarov
  • Since October 9, Yandex Go experienced large-scale outages, which were linked to attacks on the company's data centers in Russia
  • Taxi fares in Uzbekistan rose several times over; the Competition Committee addressed aggregators with demands

A new player in the taxi market

A Chinese company is preparing to start operating in Uzbekistan's taxi market. As First Deputy Minister of Transport Mamanbiy Omarov told the Spot publication, the company plans to bring 5,000 vehicles into the country and launch its own ride-hailing app. According to him, the new market participant will begin operations in the near future.

Yandex Go outage and rising prices

The news of the Chinese company's entry came amid large-scale disruptions in the operation of one of the country's largest taxi-hailing services — Yandex Go. Since October 9, users have faced technical problems. The cause was said to be attacks from Ukraine on the company's data centers in Russia: due to damage to a data center and server failures, the ability to order taxis was temporarily halted in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan.

Regulator's response

Against the backdrop of the outages, the cost of rides in Uzbekistan rose several times over. The Competition Committee asked aggregators to revise their pricing algorithms, resolve issues with payments to drivers, and unblock driver accounts that had been blocked without sufficient grounds.

Analysts' assessments

According to market analysts, amid the disruptions to aggregators' operations and sharp price fluctuations, the emergence of a new player with a fleet of 5,000 cars could increase competition in Uzbekistan's taxi market.