Country Readiness Assessment Report – Kyrgyzstan . not exceeded US $ 500,000. However, in spite of low tariffs and strong competition, this market still attracts only mid-size investors. A Kyrgyz-Chinese joint venture also plans to provide services in the near future. There is growth potential in this market, probably through provision of additional services. In particular, this is likely to involve making pagers into info-commutators via active use of the Internet and automation of message transmission.. Taking into consideration all of the above, and given sufficient GNP growth, the capacity of the market may reach 10 to 15 thousand clients. Trunk telephone communication services There are several companies working to provide radio-trunking services primarily in Bishkek and Chui Oblast on the basis of the “Smarttrunk-II” protocol. However, this market is not expected to show much further development. One exception to this concerns “Areopag-Bishkek”, which installed the local “Smarttrunk-II” radio communication systems not only in Bishkek, but also in Osh and Balykchi. This company also started to implement a radio communication system on the basis of the MRT-1327 protocol. TV broadcasting services A special place in the market belongs to the radio-relay communication network, TV and radio broadcasting. Services in this market used to be provided by the Republican Production Union of radio-relay trunk lines, TV and radio broadcasting (RPU). However, according to the Resolution of the Government # 220, as of 25 April, RPU has entered the “Kyrgyztelecom” structure. RPU includes companies that provide radio and TV channels to TV and radio companies, for broadcasting of their programmes over the territory of the republic, transportation of TV and radio programmes, and long distance communication channels, via radio-relay lines. Private TV and radio companies do not use the services of RPU due to their small financial capacity. State TV is transmitted via 50 stations, with the number of programmes broadcast not less than two. Bishkek and the neighbouring regions of Chui Oblast receive five TV and two radio programmes. In the last year, “Ala-TV” company has begun to develop the cable TV market. This company is a joint-stock company and one of its investors is a well-known American company, “Metromedia”. This company actively develops cable TV networks and paging services in CIS, and has begun to invest in cellular communication systems. The project is interesting because the company has started to develop its own cable industry infrastructure (mainly optical cable). The company’s tariffs are not high and, as such, client interest is expected to be favourable. To date, the company has only been able to cover only a small part of Bishkek, and without expansion there is a danger the company will not be able to attract a satisfactory number of clients. However, given the rapid development of technologies, it is possible that in the years ahead, this company may become a participant in the market for local telephone communication services. Subsequent to the introduction of card telephones, there have been some developments in the pay-for-telephone segment of the market. This project was launched by the “Telcard” company, using pay-for-telephones of the well-known French “Schlumberger” company, with subsequent transfer of the system to JSC “Kyrgyztelecom”. As such “Kyrgyztelecom” still has a monopoly in the pay-for-telephone services market. Currently, “Kyrgyztelecom” operates about 1,000 coin telephones and 300 chip-card telephones. Approximately 70% of the above- mentioned telephones are in Bishkek, while the rest are distributed among oblast centers. The development 26