Tourist connectivity: where the operator becomes the backbone, not just a SIM seller

The bottleneck is not the SIM, it is the chain

When tourist-friendly connectivity gets discussed, the conversation usually narrows down to the SIM and the tariff. That is too narrow. The real picture is wider — an arriving traveller goes through a sequence of steps, each of which can derail the trip. Get a local number. Activate a payment app to pay for a taxi. Pass identification at a hotel. Recover access if a card is lost. Tell relatives they made it. None of these steps is independent of the others — they form a chain, and if one breaks, the rest of the journey happens on foot and in cash.

In 2026 the chain became longer. Since 22 April 2026, most operations in banking and payment apps in Uzbekistan require biometric verification — Face ID for registration, password recovery and login from a new device (thepaypers.com), (cbu.uz). For most adult local customers this is moderate friction — they are already in the system. For an arriving visitor it is a barrier that did not exist five years ago.

And this is exactly where the operator has a window. Not “sell a SIM to a tourist”, but become the link that holds the whole identity-connectivity-payment-service chain together. A rare position, and one no operator in the region has yet taken systematically.

Where the journey actually breaks

In the first hours after arrival, a traveller takes several actions, each of which can become a dead end.

With SIM acquisition the situation is split. Operator offices and the airport sell prepaid SIMs against a passport, with sign-up taking 15-30 minutes. eSIM exists, but pre-arrival activation for foreigners works at not all operators and not always cleanly. A traveller with a 2-hour layover ends up either without connectivity or in a long queue.

With payments the picture is also imperfect. International cards work in major hotels and chain stores, but the basic infrastructure for taxis, small cafes and markets is set up around local payment apps. Setting up a local wallet without a local bank account is hard, and with biometric requirements harder still.

With identification in services, OneID, MyGov and similar are designed for citizens, not visitors. Some hotels, car rentals and insurance services require national ID, and a foreign passport does not always work in the digital flow.

With contact to a bank if something goes wrong (blocked card, suspicious transaction, lost card), verification without a local number turns into an international call, a long form, a wait. Tourists do not plan for that.

Each of these links is a place where the operator can step in. But not with one service — with a bundle, and that changes the format of the product.

What a tourist-ready service should look like

Four elements go into the format, and the tariff is the fourth, not the first.

First — pre-arrival activation. The traveller can buy and pre-activate eSIM from any country. KYC happens by video link or through an integration with a digital ID partner. The actual activation on the network triggers on landing. This removes the airport queue and makes connectivity work from the first minute.

Second — a local number as a verification anchor. The number is not for calls, it is for local services (taxi, wallets, marketplaces) to run their standard checks. A foreign number is often refused or hits extra anti-fraud rules. A local number removes that whole class of problems.

Third — the operator as identity bridge for partners. If the telco has already identified the customer (passport, photo, active SIM), it can pass a token to a partner: “this person has been verified, the document is valid, the phone is active”. The partner (hotel, taxi, bank) accepts the token instead of running its own check. Several identifications in a row drop out of the journey.

Fourth — support in the customer’s language at the moment of trouble. Not a generic chatbot, but contextual help when something has gone wrong. “Your payment was blocked by the local bank’s anti-fraud rule — here is what you can do”, “the taxi does not accept your card — here is how to add a local wallet in three minutes”. Base languages for Uzbekistan are Russian and English; for growing inflows — Chinese and Korean.

What usually goes wrong with tourist offers

A discounted tourist tariff as the central idea. The traveller does not optimise for price on a first trip — they optimise for time and continuity of experience. A 30% discount does not compensate for a lost hour at the airport.

A clean roaming pack without identity and payment integration. Useful but partial. The traveller is connected to data but still cannot pay for the taxi without a local wallet.

Partnerships with hotels only. A narrow channel — most travellers walk past the hotels with a tariff offer.

eSIM in the catalogue without a pre-arrival activation process. Stating “we have eSIM” does not help if activation requires an in-person office visit.

A “tourist portal” as a website with useful information and no integration into actual services. The tourist does not open the operator’s portal, they open Google Maps or the messenger. If the operator is not there, it is as if the operator does not exist.

What is realistic over 24 months

The first 6 months — foundation. Pre-arrival eSIM with simplified registration for the main inflows (Russian, Chinese, Korean, English interface). One or two identity verification partners for legal coverage. Multilingual app support at a basic level.

Months 7-12 — the bridge to the ecosystem. Integration with one taxi service, one booking platform, one bank partner accepting the tourist verification token. Basic measurement — how many tourists pass through the integrated flow, where they drop off.

Months 13-18 — expansion. Additional languages, partner network grown to 10-15 services, a hub in the app aggregating tourist-relevant actions on a single screen.

Months 19-24 — a regional story. eSIM with roaming across several Central Asian countries — tourist routes often cross multiple countries on one trip, and a single SIM with simple economics can be a differentiator. Anonymised aggregated analytics on tourist flows as a service for partners (hotels, retailers, municipalities) — a separate revenue line.

By the end of month 24 the operator is positioned not as “a local SIM for tourists” but as an infrastructure that holds the visitor’s journey together.

When the topic is not a priority

If the main marketing budget is focused on retaining the local base, and the tourist segment is a small share of activations (typically below 5-7% of revenue at regional operators by our estimate), other priorities pull resources away.

If the billing system does not support clean short prepaid windows without auto-renewal or with issues after 30+ days of inactivity, a clean tourist experience is hard to deliver without a bottleneck.

If the operator has no working partnerships with key travel platforms, hotel chains and large taxi services, the tourist hub becomes a window without a counter.

If the contact centre does not have multilingual 24/7 support, night-time tourist incidents become a failure point.

If the regulatory framework on KYC for foreigners has not clarified video and remote identification, pre-arrival activation will be blocked by legal.

Discussion points for the committee

What is the current share of tourist subscribers in the active base and in revenue? Without the number, the discussion is in the air.

Which 3-5 moments in the tourist journey generate the most complaints and abandonment? That is the first priority list.

Who do we have working partnerships with — booking platforms, taxis, banks, the airport? Without these the product does not scale.

Can the operator legally act as a verification authority for partners? This is a legal and regulatory clarity question, and it has to be answered before architecture.

What ROI horizon is acceptable — 12, 18 or 24 months? Tourist work usually shows measurable results no earlier than 12 months.

How SamaraliSoft can help

Tourist Connectivity & Trust Architecture — analysis of the tourist journey in Uzbekistan (where the friction sits, where the opportunity is), design of a tourist-ready offer with eSIM + identity bridge + embedded support, a partner plan for integration with travel platforms and banks, a technical blueprint for pre-arrival activation, and an 18-month launch plan with stages and measurement.

Related reading

• /en/insights/telecom-youth-segments-payments/ — biometrics and UX
• /en/solutions/telecom-trust-platform-cornerstone/ — operator as a trust layer
• /en/insights/telecom-arpu-bundles-devices/ — where ARPU grows
• /en/insights/telecom-app-monetization/ — app frequency

Sources

• Central Bank of Uzbekistan — biometric verification for digital banking
• The Paypers — digital banking verification UZ, April 2026
• Ministry of Digital Technologies — telecom and digital UZ
• Digital Government Portal — internet usage
• UzDaily — telecom market