ASTANA – Kazakhstan will provide 99% of the country’s rural settlements with high-speed internet by the end of 2027, as the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry and Kazakhtelecom signed an investment agreement to connect more than 3,000 villages to the internet.
Photo credit: Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Thanks to the agreements reached, the implementation of the project to build fiber-optic communication lines will be completed a year ahead of schedule, by the end of 2026, and remote areas will be connected via satellite communication channels by the end of 2027, reported the ministry’s press service.
Schools, hospitals, administrative buildings, budgetary organizations, as well as public access points and more than 40 checkpoints at state borders, will soon have access to the network. Rural settlements will be connected via both fiber-optic (88%) and satellite channels (12%).
The total investment in the project will exceed 239 billion tenge (US$470 million), sourced from extra-budgetary funds. This has been made possible with Kazakhtelecom’s largest telecommunications infrastructure.
The infrastructure for base stations of cellular communications in rural areas will also be strengthened. Laying fiber-optic lines to these facilities will significantly improve the quality of mobile internet and communications.
According to Minister of Digital Development, Innovation, and Aerospace Industry Zhaslan Madiyev, these measures will ensure equal conditions for the development of regions, integrating them into the digital ecosystem of the country.
“This is the basis for equal access to education, medicine, and government services. When the infrastructure operates stably and transparently, this creates the basis for the development of small businesses, rural schools, and new professional trajectories for young people,” he said.
