Internet Access Services in Kazakhstan
Major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Market Share
Kazakhstan’s telecom market is dominated by a few large providers, led by the former state monopoly Kazakhtelecom. Kazakhtelecom (including its mobile subsidiaries) accounts for roughly 60% of the telecom market by revenue ar2023.telecom.kz. It owns major stakes in mobile operators Kcell and Tele2/Altel, consolidating much of the market under its group. The chief competitor is Kar-Tel/Beeline Kazakhstan (part of VEON), which has about 28% market share by revenue ar2023.telecom.kz and is a leading mobile and broadband provider. Other ISPs include Transtelecom, KazTransCom, Astel, and a multitude of smaller operators, but together they hold a relatively small portion of the market. In terms of internet traffic share by autonomous networks, Kazakhtelecom is the largest (around 26%), followed by the Beeline network (~20%), Tele2 Kazakhstan (~19%), and then Kcell (~9%) pulse.internetsociety.org. This reflects an effective duopoly in the consumer market, with Kazakhtelecom and Beeline’s networks serving the vast majority of users. Competition has increased since market liberalization in the 2000s, but Kazakhtelecom still maintains dominance especially in fixed-line and broadband services en.wikipedia.org. Mobile services are slightly more competitive, split primarily between Kazakhtelecom’s subsidiaries and Beeline, with new smaller entrants (such as MVNOs like Izi and Jusan Mobile) just beginning to emerge budde.com.au.
Infrastructure Development and Coverage (Urban vs. Rural)
Kazakhstan has invested heavily in telecommunications infrastructure, achieving broad coverage across its expansive territory. Major cities and towns are well-connected via a national fiber-optic backbone operated by Kazakhtelecom en.wikipedia.org. This backbone links all major urban centers at multi-gigabit capacities, forming the core network. As a result, urban areas enjoy extensive broadband access through fixed fiber, DSL, cable, and high-capacity mobile networks. In rural and remote areas, infrastructure development has been more challenging due to the country’s large size and low population density. However, significant progress has been made in closing the urban-rural gap. By mid-2021, broadband internet was available in 118 cities and over 4,500 villages, covering 97.2% of Kazakhstan’s population astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. Nearly all villages with populations above 250 have been provided with internet access under government programs (via fiber backhaul or wireless) astanatimes.com. The “250+” initiative launched in 2020 focused on bringing mobile broadband connectivity to settlements of over 250 people, resulting in new 3G/4G base stations and infrastructure in hundreds of villages astanatimes.com. By the end of 2020, mobile broadband coverage reached 5,332 settlements, equating to 99.3% of the population astanatimes.com. That said, the most remote small villages (particularly those with only a few hundred or dozen residents) still lag in access. As of 2022, about 1,673 tiny villages (home to ~266,000 people) remained outside mobile broadband coverage astanatimes.com. These are typically in far-flung areas where extending fiber or cellular networks is cost-prohibitive. The urban population still had a slight advantage in internet access (around 88% of urban residents vs 85% of rural residents were online in 2020) astanatimes.com, but this gap has been narrowing. Ongoing infrastructure projects aim to eliminate the digital divide so that rural users can enjoy similar connectivity to city dwellers. Overall, Kazakhstan’s coverage in rural areas is now among the highest in Central Asia, thanks to sustained investment by both state and private operators astanatimes.com astanatimes.com.
Broadband Speed and Pricing Comparisons
Internet speeds in Kazakhstan have improved markedly in recent years due to fiber deployment and 4G/5G upgrades. The country’s average broadband speeds now rank well globally. As of early 2025, Kazakhstan’s median mobile download speed is around 82 Mbps (ranking 49th in the world) and fixed broadband median download is about 78 Mbps (83rd globally) speedtest.net speedtest.net. These speeds are a dramatic increase from just a few years ago; for instance, mobile speeds doubled from ~19 Mbps to ~35 Mbps between 2020 and 2023 ookla.com. In Central Asia, Kazakhstan leads in mobile network performance – its 4G download speeds (~28 Mbps median) outpace those in neighboring Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan ookla.com. Urban users with fiber-to-the-home can access much higher fixed speeds (100 Mbps and above are common in cities), whereas some rural users on older DSL or satellite links get more modest speeds.
In terms of pricing, internet access in Kazakhstan is very affordable relative to global standards. Mobile data in particular is cheap – the average cost of 1 GB of mobile data is only about $0.59, placing Kazakhstan among the ten lowest-cost countries worldwide for mobile internet astanatimes.com. (By comparison, the global average cost per GB is several times higher.) Strong competition and government infrastructure investments have driven prices down. A basic mobile data+voice plan or a low-tier fixed broadband package represents under 1% of average monthly income, which meets the U.N. affordability target pulse.internetsociety.org. Even in rural areas, providers have largely standardized tariffs so that prices remain the same as in cities, ensuring equitable access. Fixed broadband prices have also fallen over time – for example, back in 2008, 128 kbps ADSL service cost around $30/month en.wikipedia.org, whereas today customers pay similar prices for hundreds of Mbps. Furthermore, Kazakhstan’s government has pressured ISPs to ensure that advertised speeds match actual performance, recently introducing penalties for large discrepancies astanatimes.com. Overall, Kazakhstan offers inexpensive internet service for consumers, which, combined with improving speeds, has boosted internet uptake. The low cost and wide availability of service has enabled more citizens to use online banking, e-commerce, e-government and other digital services, enhancing quality of life astanatimes.com astanatimes.com.
Government Regulations and Restrictions on Internet Access
The Kazakh government maintains significant control over internet infrastructure and imposes various regulations on online content and access. In Freedom House’s “Freedom on the Net” index, Kazakhstan is rated “Not Free” due to state interference and censorship en.wikipedia.org. Authorities routinely monitor internet traffic and have required ISPs to install equipment for surveillance. Kazakhstan’s largest ISP (Kazakhtelecom) has been known to block websites critical of the government, including opposition news sites, certain social media and blogging platforms, and other content deemed illegal or extremist en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org. For example, access to Tumblr was completely blocked in 2016 on grounds of “religious extremism and pornography” en.wikipedia.org. Many proxy and anonymizer sites are also blocked to prevent circumvention of these filters en.wikipedia.org. The filtering tends to be centralized – Kazakhtelecom’s backbone can filter traffic for downstream ISPs – though implementation is not always consistent en.wikipedia.org.
In addition to content censorship, the government has attempted to tighten control through technical means. Notably, in 2015 and again in 2019, Kazakhstan moved to require all internet users to install a government-issued “national security certificate” – effectively a root certificate that would allow authorities to perform man-in-the-middle decryption of HTTPS traffic en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org. This sparked backlash from security experts and companies, and web browsers eventually blocked the Kazakh government certificate; as a result, the policy has not been fully enforced for the general public. Nevertheless, the legal framework grants the state broad powers over networks. The government can and has ordered nationwide internet shutdowns during emergencies: for instance, during unrest in January 2022, authorities cut off internet access across the country to quell protests about.rferl.org about.rferl.org. ISPs are expected to comply swiftly with such orders or face penalties. Furthermore, foreign ownership in telecom companies is restricted for strategic segments (especially backbone and international gateways) en.wikipedia.org, reflecting national security concerns. Despite recent moves to encourage foreign tech investment, internet services operate under strict licensing. Overall, while Kazakhstan has rapidly modernized its internet infrastructure, this has been accompanied by strong government oversight, content regulation, and on-demand access restrictions in the name of security and political stability.
Growth and Expansion of Fiber Optic Networks
Kazakhstan has made the expansion of fiber-optic networks a cornerstone of its digital development strategy. Over the past several years, the country undertook a massive project to extend fiber connectivity nationwide, not only in major cities but deep into rural regions. Under the “Digital Kazakhstan” program (launched in 2018), telecom operators rolled out more than 20,000 kilometers of fiber-optic lines across the country astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. This project, running from 2019 to 2021, connected around 1,250 remote villages, including schools, hospitals, and government offices in those areas, to high-speed fiber backbones astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. As a result, even many rural district centers now have fiber nodes, enabling broadband access via fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) or via local wireless links. In cities, Kazakhtelecom and other ISPs have aggressively deployed FTTH networks to replace older copper lines; gigabit-capable GPON fiber services are now common in Almaty, Astana (Nur-Sultan), and other large cities, greatly improving fixed-line speeds. By 2025, the government aims for 95% of households to have access to fixed broadband (primarily via fiber) astanatimes.com gsma.com, indicating continued last-mile fiber build-outs in suburban and rural settlements.
On the national level, Kazakhstan is also boosting fiber capacity for both domestic traffic and international transit. The state operator Kazakhtelecom maintains multiple cross-border fiber links – north to Russia (which historically carried the bulk of Kazakhstan’s international internet traffic), east to China, and south to Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. To diversify routes, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan agreed to build a Trans-Caspian Fiber Optic Cable under the Caspian Sea, linking the city of Aktau to Azerbaijan’s network. A joint venture called “CaspiNet” was created to manage this project budde.com.au. Once complete (expected around 2025), the Trans-Caspian cable will provide an alternative path to Europe via the Caucasus, reducing dependency on any single transit country and positioning Kazakhstan as a key link in a “Digital Silk Road” between Asia and Europe timesca.com timesca.com. In February 2025, the government announced a partnership with a local firm to construct a new “fiber-optic hyperhighway” across Kazakhstan, further augmenting east-west capacity and establishing large data centers for traffic transit and peering timesca.com timesca.com. This high-capacity trunk line (expected by 2026) will improve domestic network resilience and attract international data flows through Kazakhstan. Overall, the country’s fiber optic infrastructure has grown from a single Soviet-era backbone into a modern, multi-path network covering virtually all regions – a development that underpins the rapid improvements in internet speed and coverage seen in recent years.
Mobile Network Coverage and Penetration (3G, 4G, 5G)
Mobile networks are the primary means of internet access for most Kazakhstani citizens, and their coverage is extensive. 2G GSM networks became nationwide in the early 2000s, and by the 2010s the country saw widespread rollout of 3Gand 4G. All three major mobile operators (Kcell, Beeline, Tele2/Altel) introduced 3G UMTS/HSPA around 2007–2010, first in the big cities and eventually across most inhabited areas. By the end of that decade, 3G signal reached the vast majority of towns and highways. Starting in 2013, operators began deploying 4G LTE, and today 4G is nearly ubiquitous. LTE coverage tops 95% of the population (over 96% by 2025 projections) gsma.com, including essentially all cities and large villages. Even in Kazakhstan’s sparsely populated steppe and mountain regions, at least basic 3G/4G service is usually available through shared towers or satellite-fed base stations. As of 2020, 86.9% of all households had mobile internet access astanatimes.com, and by now mobile penetration (SIM cards) exceeds the population count – with over 16 million mobile internet subscribers in a nation of ~19 million astanatimes.com. This indicates many people use multiple SIMs or mobile devices. The urban-rural split in mobile coverage has virtually disappeared; for example, in 2020 about 88% of urban residents and 85% of rural residents were using mobile data astanatimes.com, a gap that has since narrowed further with 4G expansion.
Figure: 4G mobile performance in Q4 2023 across major Central Asian cities, showing that Kazakhstan’s largest cities (Almaty, Astana) enjoy the fastest download speeds in the region ookla.com ookla.com.
Kazakhstan’s mobile operators have also been early adopters of LTE-Advanced and are now moving into 5G. Pilot 5G networks were launched in 2019–2020 in parts of Nur-Sultan (Astana) and Almaty, and in December 2022 the government auctioned mid-band 5G spectrum (3.6–3.8 GHz) ookla.com. The licenses were won by a consortium of Kazakhtelecom’s subsidiaries (Mobile Telecom Service, which operates Tele2/Altel, and Kcell), essentially dividing the spectrum between the two groups ookla.com. Commercial 5G rollout began in 2023 on a limited scale. By late 2023, 5G networks were operational in 15 cities with over 1,000 live 5G base stations deployed ookla.com. Tele2/Altel had around 600 sites live and Kcell about 400, focusing on core urban centers ookla.com. While coverage is still spotty outside city centers, the government has set ambitious targets for 5G: initially 7,000 base stations by 2027, but later accelerated to achieve that by end of 2025 on the President’s instruction ookla.com. The goal is to provide 5G coverage to 75–80% of the population by 2025, which would put Kazakhstan among regional leaders in next-gen mobile technology globenewswire.com ookla.com.
Penetration of 5G-capable devices is already significant – over half of mobile users had 5G-ready smartphones by 2023 ookla.com ookla.com– so uptake is expected to be rapid once coverage expands. Meanwhile, 4G LTE remains the workhorse, carrying the bulk of data traffic and offering average downloads in the tens of Mbps. In terms of user experience, Kazakhstan’s mobile networks are considered advanced for the region, with consistently improving latency and throughput. The country ranked ahead of all its Central Asian neighbors in 4G performance and availability in 2022–2023 ookla.com ookla.com. Even as 5G comes online, operators continue to densify 4G in rural areas to replace aging 3G networks. Overall mobile penetration (including 2G voice) is above 130% of the population, and virtually all adults have access to a mobile phone. The combined effect of broad 3G/4G coverage and emerging 5G in cities places Kazakhstan’s mobile internet on a strong footing, with the government pushing to make high-speed mobile service accessible in every corner of the country.
Satellite Internet Services in Kazakhstan
Given Kazakhstan’s vast territory and remote communities, satellite internet has long been an important component of connectivity – and its role is evolving with new technologies. Traditionally, satellite internet in Kazakhstan was provided via geostationary satellites (GeoSat) such as the national KazSat series or international VSAT services. Companies like Astel and Nursat have operated VSAT hubs to serve distant oil fields, villages, and nomadic areas via satellite, though these legacy services are often expensive and offer limited bandwidth. The Kazakh government owns the KazSat-2 and KazSat-3 communications satellites (launched 2011 and 2014), primarily used for TV broadcasting and some data links. However, these GeoSats have high latency and are not well-suited to modern broadband needs; they are also aging, with plans underway to replace them around 2026 budde.com.au.
In the past two years, low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations have begun entering Kazakhstan’s market, promising to dramatically improve satellite internet speeds and coverage. The most prominent is SpaceX’s Starlinkconstellation. Kazakhstan’s government initially approached Starlink cautiously due to regulatory and security concerns, but has recently moved to enable its use. In 2022, laws were amended to create special regulations for non-geostationary satellite services (like Starlink and OneWeb) and to allow foreign satellite operators to enter the market daryo.uz. By late 2023, the government approved pilot programs to test Starlink in schools, though at that time it remained technically illegal for private citizens to use Starlink until formal licensing was completed about.rferl.org about.rferl.org. Officials emphasized that new legislation was needed to ensure Starlink complies with local requirements (for example, the ability to block illicit content or shut down service in emergencies) about.rferl.org.
Starlink service officially became slated to launch in Kazakhstan by the end of 2024 daryo.uz. The Ministry of Digital Development took delivery of an initial batch of 500 Starlink terminal kits in 2024, earmarking them for rural schools in regions like Turkestan and Akmola daryo.uz. The plan is to connect 2,000 schools via Starlink to bring high-speed internet to remote areas that terrestrial networks still don’t reach astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. Each school terminal cost about $2,500 (hardware) with a monthly service fee around 145,000 KZT ($316) astanatimes.com. For general consumers, Starlink’s residential kit is expected to cost a few hundred dollars and a monthly fee (Starlink’s standard global rate is around $100 per month), though local pricing hadn’t been officially announced as of 2024. The government’s embrace of Starlink is significant: it views satellite broadband as the “next step” to finally connect the last 1–2% of the population in hard-to-reach villages astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. Once fully authorized, Starlink will allow any individual or business in Kazakhstan to obtain a high-speed (100+ Mbps) internet connection almost anywhere, as long as they have a clear view of the sky.
Parallel to Starlink, another LEO player is OneWeb (partly owned by Eutelsat). OneWeb has also been active in Kazakhstan. In October 2024, Kazakhstan tested OneWeb’s broadband service at the Kokterek Satellite Communications Center near Almaty astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. A OneWeb gateway station has been installed at Kokterek to cover Kazakhstan and Central Asia astanatimes.com. The local telecom operator Jusan Mobile is partnering in this effort, with a full commercial launch of OneWeb-based services planned for early 2025 astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. OneWeb aims to serve not just individual users but also provide backhaul connectivity for telcos and government agencies (B2B, B2G markets) in remote locations astanatimes.com. The OneWeb solution is seen as complementary: for instance, it could connect rural cellular towers or public Wi-Fi hotspots to the core network where laying fiber is impractical. Additionally, O3b mPOWER (MEO satellites by SES) has been mentioned by officials as another option under consideration astanatimes.com astanatimes.com.
Figure: The Kokterek Satellite Communication Center in Kazakhstan’s Almaty region, which hosts a new OneWeb gateway station to provide low-earth-orbit satellite internet coverage across the country
Despite the excitement around LEO satellites, there are challenges. One is cost: Starlink and OneWeb equipment and subscriptions are relatively expensive for average consumers (equipment costs in the thousands of dollars under current supply channels, though this may decrease over time or with subsidies) astanatimes.com. Another challenge is regulatory control – Kazakhstan’s authorities are wary of losing the ability to oversee internet traffic. They have sought assurances or technical solutions to maintain “information security” even over satellite links about.rferl.org. This might include requiring Starlink to route through a local gateway or comply with local filtering, though Starlink’s architecture is user-terminal to satellite to foreign gateway, which bypasses national internet filters. Balancing these concerns with the goal of connectivity is an ongoing process. In the interim, Kazakhstan continues to use traditional satellite services for certain needs. For example, some very remote households still rely on small Ku-band VSAT dishes provided by companies like SputnikaTV (SputTV) or others for basic internet, and transportable satellite units are used for emergency communications. The government is also working on upgrading its own satellite fleet (planning new KazSat-4/5 satellites) to ensure it has secure communication channels of its own budde.com.au. In summary, satellite internet in Kazakhstan is transitioning from a limited, niche service to a mainstream component of the broadband mix. With Starlink and OneWeb, even the most isolated yurts on the steppe could soon have access to fast internet, closing the last gaps in coverage – provided that regulatory frameworks and pricing models align to make these services accessible and legal for ordinary users.
Digital Divide and Initiatives for Remote Regions
Bridging the digital divide between Kazakhstan’s urban centers and its remote communities has been a declared priority for the government. Thanks to extensive programs, the gap in basic access has narrowed significantly. Still, challenges remain in ensuring quality and affordable service in the most isolated areas. Several major initiatives have been launched over the past decade to improve rural connectivity:
- Digital Kazakhstan Program: This overarching program (2018–2022 and beyond) aimed at nationwide digital development placed rural broadband expansion at its core. It led to heavy investments in rural telecom infrastructure, including the 20,000 km fiber project mentioned earlier and upgrades to mobile networks in sparsely populated regions astanatimes.com. The program’s impact is evident in statistics – by 2021, 97% of the population had access to broadband internet, up from 70–75% a decade prior astanatimes.com. Digital Kazakhstan also encompassed digital literacy training and e-government services to encourage internet use in all regions.
- 250+ Project: This was a focused initiative (started around 2018–2020) to connect all villages with over 250 inhabitants to high-speed mobile internet. Under this project, the mobile operator Mobile Telecom Service (Tele2/Altel) installed hundreds of new 3G/4G base stations in rural localities and provided ongoing maintenance astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. The result was that by the end of 2020, virtually every mid-sized village met the coverage target, greatly reducing the number of unconnected settlements. Smaller villages (below 250 people) are the next frontier; many of those are slated to be covered either by expanding mobile networks further or via satellite solutions.
- Universal Service and Tax Incentives: The government uses universal service funds and incentives to coax operators into rural build-outs. For instance, telecom operators receive tax breaks if they reinvest profits into network expansion in underserved areas astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. New regulations also permit use of existing infrastructure (like utility poles) to accelerate deployment in villages astanatimes.com. Such policies have lowered the cost barriers of reaching remote customers.
- School and Public Facility Connectivity: Recognizing that connecting institutions can anchor broader community access, Kazakhstan has programs to connect all schools, clinics, akim (local government) offices, etc., to the internet. By ensuring every school has broadband (through fiber, microwave, or now Starlink terminals), nearby residents also indirectly benefit (e.g., through public Wi-Fi or simply the improved infrastructure in the village). The initiative to equip 2,000 schools with Starlink by 2024 is part of this effort astanatimes.com astanatimes.com. Additionally, many rural libraries and cultural centers have been outfitted with internet access and computers for public use.
Despite these efforts, some digital divide issues persist. Rural users, while now mostly online, often contend with lower speeds or network quality compared to city dwellers. In certain remote provinces, residents rely on older technologies (like ADSL or 3G) with limited bandwidth, though the situation is steadily improving with 4G rollouts. Another issue is affordability for low-income rural families; even if coverage exists, the cost of devices (smartphones, computers) or monthly fees can be a hurdle for some. To tackle this, the government has considered subsidies or providing communal internet access points. There is also a linguistic and content aspect of the digital divide: much online content is in Russian or English, so Kazakh-language local content and digital literacy training in Kazakh are important for truly inclusive internet use. Programs teaching basic internet skills and cybersecurity in rural schools have been implemented to boost digital literacy gsma.com gsma.com.
Encouragingly, international assessments note that Kazakhstan now has one of the smallest urban-rural digital gaps in the region astanatimes.com. For example, by 2021 the difference in internet penetration between cities and villages was only a few percentage points, whereas a decade prior it was a wide chasm. The country’s leadership has explicitly framed internet access as an “inalienable human right” and is striving for 100% inclusion astanatimes.com. Looking ahead, the remaining digital divide is expected to further diminish as 5G and satellite internet extend connectivity to the last unserved areas, and as device costs come down making it easier for all citizens to get online.
Future Trends and Government Initiatives
Kazakhstan’s internet landscape is poised for continued growth and modernization, driven by both government initiatives and private sector innovation. A key government goal is to achieve universal high-speed coverage by 2025 – specifically, to have 100% of the population covered by quality internet access and 95% of households with broadband subscriptions astanatimes.com gsma.com. This target is part of the national project “Technological Breakthrough Through Digitalization, Science and Innovation” approved in 2021, and the country appears on track to meet it. We can expect an aggressive push in the next couple of years to reach the last unconnected locales using a mix of fiber, mobile and satellite (as described above).
5G expansion will be one of the dominant trends through the mid-2020s. With spectrum allocated and initial networks live, Kazakhstan plans to rapidly blanket urban areas with 5G by 2025, and then expand to wider coverage by 2027 globenewswire.com ookla.com. This will involve thousands of new base stations and likely significant investments in supporting infrastructure (fiber backhaul to those cell sites, power, etc.). The government has indicated interest in attracting vendors and possibly localizing some 5G-related technologies or services. By boosting mobile broadband capacity, Kazakhstan also aims to foster new digital industries (IoT, smart cities, etc.) as part of its economic diversification.
On the fixed-line side, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) deployment will continue to grow. Kazakhtelecom and other ISPs are expected to extend fiber to more apartment buildings and homes, improving fixed broadband speeds and reliability. There is also ongoing work to upgrade the international connectivity of the country – besides the Trans-Caspian cable project, Kazakhstan is collaborating with regional partners to create a “Digital Silk Road” that could see data routes from China passing through Kazakhstan to Europe. The recently signed memorandum to build an East-West fiber highway with private investment (Freedom Telecom) by 2026 is part of making Kazakhstan a regional transit hub for internet traffic timesca.com timesca.com. This not only has geopolitical significance (offering alternatives to routing via Russia) but will also improve latency and bandwidth for Kazakh internet users accessing global services.
The satellite broadband revolution is also a major future factor. By late 2024 and into 2025, Starlink and OneWeb are slated to begin wider operations in Kazakhstan daryo.uz astanatimes.com. Government programs in 2024–2027, with budgets in the billions of tenge, will subsidize deployment of satellite terminals to schools and possibly to remote villages or border outposts about.rferl.org. If these LEO services prove successful, they could be expanded to more public facilities and even offered commercially to households, thereby fully erasing the remaining connectivity gaps. The regulatory framework is being adjusted (with special temporary provisions through 2026 for LEO satellites) to accommodate these services while safeguarding national security interests daryo.uz. The outcome in Kazakhstan may serve as a model for other countries balancing open internet access via satellites with state oversight.
Another trend is the promotion of competition and new services in the telecom sector. The government has introduced the concept of virtual mobile network operators (MVNOs) in law daryo.uz. This has already given rise to a couple of MVNOs (like “Izi” and some offerings by banks such as Jusan Mobile) and could stimulate better pricing and service innovation in mobile plans, especially for younger and price-sensitive consumers. Additionally, quality-of-service standards are being tightened – for example, a 2022 decree allows consumers to be compensated if their internet speeds are significantly below what was advertised astanatimes.com. This indicates a maturing market where attention is shifting from mere access to quality and customer rights.
From a governance perspective, Kazakhstan will likely maintain its firm hand on internet regulation. Future initiatives might include developing domestic content delivery networks and data centers (to keep more internet traffic local for speed and sovereignty reasons) – in fact, the new data center projects alongside the fiber highway aim to create a robust domestic cloud infrastructure timesca.com timesca.com. The country is also working on new KazSat satellites and possibly its own low-orbit satellites in partnership with international firms budde.com.au, which could give it greater control over satellite communications. Cybersecurity and control over social media/information space remain government priorities, so we might see further legislation in those areas (e.g., requiring foreign internet companies to have local representation or data storage, which has been discussed in recent years).
In summary, Kazakhstan’s internet access services are on an upward trajectory: faster, more ubiquitous, and cheaper by the year, with heavy state involvement in guiding this growth. Major ISPs will continue to invest in network upgrades, spurred by government targets and competition. By 2025, it is plausible that nearly every person in Kazakhstan will have the option to get online, whether through fiber at home, 5G on their phone, or a satellite link in the most remote pasture. The combination of terrestrial and space-based infrastructure, supported by forward-looking government initiatives like “Digital Kazakhstan,” is transforming the nation’s digital landscape. If current plans materialize, Kazakhstan will not only close its internal digital divide but also emerge as a central Asian telecom hub with world-class connectivity for its citizens astanatimes.com timesca.com.
Sources: Kazakhstan Telecom Annual Report 2023 ar2023.telecom.kz; Internet Society Pulse pulse.internetsociety.org; Wikipedia – Internet in Kazakhstan en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org; Astana Times (16 Nov 2024) astanatimes.com astanatimes.com; Astana Times (11 Aug 2022) astanatimes.com astanatimes.com; Astana Times (19 June 2024) astanatimes.com; Astana Times (23 Oct 2024) astanatimes.com astanatimes.com; RFE/RL about.rferl.org; Speedtest/Ookla Reports ookla.com ookla.com; BuddeComm Telecom Market Overview budde.com.au budde.com.au; Kazakh Bureau of Statistics (via Astana Times, 2021) astanatimes.com astanatimes.com.
