All Kazakh regional centres to be covered with 4G by end of 2017

ASTANA – Deputy Chairman of the State Control Committee in the field of Communications, Informatisation and Mass Media of Kazakhstan Mikhail Komissarov recently announced Kazakhstan hopes to cover all regional centres with 4G by the end of 2017.

“The coverage of the population by 3G services amounted to 86.8 percent in 2016. 4G mobile services are provided in towns with a population of 50,000 people and higher. We expect that by the end of this year all regional centres will be covered with 4G,” Komissarov said at a meeting of the public council on the development of information, information and communication technologies and the provision of public services.

He noted that one of the ministry’s priorities in telecommunications is to provide the population with broadband internet access services.

“As a result of the creation of a modern telecommunications infrastructure, the number of internet users was 76.8 percent in 2016. According to this indicator, Kazakhstan ranks 36th in the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum,” the ministry official said.

Already the population is connected to the internet via a fibre-optic cable in all major cities of the country.

“The world trend is now certainly moving towards the development of wireless mobile networks, as evidenced by the growth in the number of cellular subscribers, the country now has more than 26 million subscribers. In Kazakhstan, the density of cellular subscribers ranked 17th in the world in 2017,” Komissarov said.


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