According to the agreement, Fantom will implement a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in Tajikistan. The Ministry of Industry and New Technologies believes that this will be useful in facilitating work and business development.
Fantom said in a statement on its website that the Tajik Ministry of Industry and New Technologies intends to study the company’s proposed system, after which the parties will sign a new agreement to establish a research and development center based on blockchain technology.
Jovid Sikandar, Fantom’s head of South Asia, said the company’s proposed system will help meet the needs of Tajikistan’s economy.
The underlying blockchain technology is finding wider application, with several governments in the region already experimenting with blockchain to digitize and optimize public services to make them more secure, transparent and efficient.
Using the Fantom Blockchain: What is Blockchain?
A blockchain is a set of blocks of information that is organized in accordance with certain rules. Blockchain is a technology that allows information to be stored on many computers simultaneously using the Internet. There can be dozens, hundreds, or even thousands or millions of participants in the network where the data is stored. If something happens to one computer, everything can be brought back unchanged.
Blockchain is a universal data store, so it can be used anywhere there is a lot of data. Blockchain cannot be hacked or modified, but it can be accessed by anyone with the appropriate permissions and access keys.
At the government level, Fantom’s blockchain can be used in the distribution of finances, government debt and humanitarian aid, experts say.
The World Bank also recommends the use of blockchain technology. “It is time for Europe and Central Asia to take advantage of new digital technologies to innovate and improve the quality of services,” the WB said in its 2018 Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Report.
Digitalization in Tajikistan
In November 2020, the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan launched a website where private entrepreneurs and companies can now obtain permits in an online system. The permit issuing department of the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan told Radio Ozodi at the time that the licenses cover 8 types of activities, such as the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, or non-ferrous metals.
The ministry said that if all the required documents are submitted correctly, an entrepreneur’s application can be reviewed and approved within two weeks. The applications will be considered by a special commission on the issuance of permits, which will discuss each application on a case-by-case basis.
It should be recalled that in 2011, Tajikistan adopted the Concept for the formation of e-government (2012 – 2020). E-government is also mentioned in Tajikistan’s development strategy until 2030, but according to experts, no one is actually working on it right now.
The thing is, the Tajik authorities intend to introduce new technologies at a time when the Internet in Tajikistan is one of the slowest in the world and its cost is almost the highest. Experts believe that the introduction of blockchain technology is impossible without high-speed and high-quality Internet. Connection speeds are worse only in Iraq, Afghanistan and Venezuela. At the same time, the country has the most expensive Internet in the region – one gigabyte costs on average more than 20 somoni (about $2).
Tajikistan’s Ministry of Industry and New Technologies recognizes that the country’s internet is slow and very expensive, and it intends to change that.
Tajiktelecom, a company controlled by the Communications Service under the local government, has been Tajikistan’s sole Internet provider since 2018. Previously, Tajik providers had the right to offer the Internet on their own. However, after a controversial decision by the Communications Service, telecom companies were forced to purchase Internet only from Tajiktelecom. The World Bank also recently argued that Tajiktelecom should be removed from the communications regulator’s control.
