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Tengrinews.kz - When will Astana have internet as fast as Dubai? This was the question posed to Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry Askhat Orazbek.
Tengrinews.kz - When will Astana have internet as fast as Dubai? This was the question posed to Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry Askhat Orazbek.
Recently, the Speedtest Global Index released a ranking of countries and cities with the fastest internet. Kazakhstan ranked 57th in mobile internet speed, while the United Arab Emirates topped the list.
At a government briefing, a Tengrinews.kz correspondent asked the vice minister what prevents Kazakhstan from achieving higher rankings and when Astana's internet quality will match that of Dubai.
"I'll say it, and then people will start blaming me again... The country is large. It's really large. If we talk about national rankings, guys, we need to reach every single settlement so that the connection in each one is as good as in Dubai. In the UAE, there are a few compact, densely populated cities where it's relatively easy and quick to establish connectivity. Meanwhile, in Kazakhstan, we have quite ambitious goals—we want to reach every village," Orazbek explained.
According to him, the ministry’s immediate task is to bring internet access to 3,000 villages. After that, there will still be just over 500 remote settlements where fiber-optic connections are difficult to establish. For those areas, internet access is planned via satellite communication channels.
"We want to deliver 100-megabit connections to households everywhere. This is a very ambitious goal for such a vast country. Yes, we are a large nation, but we are not sitting idly by, and we are not giving up. We will complete this work. And then we will have high-quality internet in every village, every household, every rural settlement," Orazbek promised.
The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovations, and Aerospace Industry aims to complete this project by the end of 2027. The vice minister believes that once this is achieved, Kazakhstan will rise significantly in global internet speed rankings.
"So Kazakhstan's only obstacle is its vast territory?" the correspondent asked.
"Nothing is really holding us back; it's just a matter of funding and investment from telecom companies. It's a question of money. If an operator sees financial benefit in entering a certain settlement, they will do so without our support. But since most villages are small, the government has to implement public-private partnership projects to ensure they receive quality internet," Orazbek explained.
As a reminder, the latest Speedtest Global Index report analyzed the average mobile and broadband internet speeds across nearly 200 cities in 154 countries. The main evaluation criteria were download and upload speeds for both mobile and fixed broadband networks.
According to the global ranking, Kazakhstan has moved up one position in mobile internet speed. The country now ranks 57th, with an average download speed of 53.76 Mbps. Japan is right behind at 58th place, with a speed of 53.54 Mbps.
Read also: Internet on Kazakhstan’s trains: What’s known so far
