ASTANA, Kazakhstan, October 2. Kazakhstan plans to provide satellite stations and public Wi-Fi access points to 504 villages by the end of 2025, said the country's Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Damir Seissembekov, Trend’s special correspondent reports.
Speaking at the Digital Bridge forum in Astana, Seissembekov stated that an agreement has already been signed with Starlink, which officially entered the Kazakh market, as well as a plan with Amazon to introduce cloud services in the country.
“We are testing technologies at the Republican Space Communication Center, obtaining good results, and consistently diversifying the market. Our goal is to have at least four satellite communication operators by the years ahead,” he stated.
Seissembekov stressed that Kazakhstan is creating conditions for competition and the development of satellite internet in remote regions. To this end, the country’s communications law already provides for operator licensing and allocates a separate radio frequency band in line with International Telecommunication Union (ITU) standards.
In addition, Seysembekov noted that negotiations are underway with international companies to launch Direct-to-Cell (D2C) services, which would allow residents of remote mountainous areas to send SMS messages even where traditional mobile communication is unavailable.
“We hope that Kazakhstan will become one of the first countries in the region to introduce Direct-to-Cell technology,” he emphasized.
To note, the inaugural deployment of Starlink's public service in Kazakhstan was initiated on August 13, 2025, subsequent to the Ministry of Digital Development formalizing a contractual agreement with Starlink in June 2025, thereby ensuring adherence to national regulatory frameworks. Initially, the service operated exclusively in a beta phase targeting rural educational institutions; however, this accord facilitated expansive public accessibility to the satellite internet infrastructure.
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