 In 1997, the Ministry of Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan was reorganized into the Uzbek Post and Telecommunications Agency, followed by the establishment of regional joint stock companies providing telecommunications services.From 2000 through 2002, Uzbektelecom was reorganized from a holding company to an operating company, merging the regional telecommunications companies into Uzbektelecom.In 2003, Uzbektelecom began providing CDMA-450 wireless radio access.