4G to be launched in Astana and Almaty by year end: Minister

4G mobile communications standards will be introduced in Astana and Almaty by the end of the year, Tengrinews.kz reports citing Minister of Transport and Communications Askar Zhumagaliyev as saying at the briefing in Kazakhstan President’s Central Communications Service. “Telecommunications are developing intensely. This year we hope to launch 4G in Almaty and Astana and then develop it into other Kazakhstan cities. KazakhTelecom started implementing it as part of a pilot mode. Several base stations have been installed in Astana and Almaty to test the 4G mobile communications project,” Zhumagaliyev said. According to the Minister, 3G networks were put in place in Astana, Almaty and all 14 oblast centers (major cities) of the country in 2011. Implementation of this technology is still in process in more remote and less populated areas of Kazakhstan. “The plan is to cover the regional centers and villages with population over 10 thousand people with 3G network by 2015,” the Minister said. In telecommunications, 4G is the fourth generation of mobile communications standards. It is a successor of the third generation (3G) standards. A 4G system provides mobile ultra-broadband Internet access, for example to laptops with USB wireless modems, to smartphones, and to other mobile devices. Conceivable applications include amended mobile web access, IP telephony, gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing and 3D television.