Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
143
On the mobile broadband side, the three wireless carriers have launched 4G LTE services, and
offer service in most cities. Kazaktelecom’s subsidiary Altel launched 4G LTE service in
December 201297 in the cities of Astana and Almaty. The operator had an exclusive license for
one and a half year. By 2015, the service was offered to 7.2 million people in 22 cities. Another
22 cities of more than 50,000 population were covered in 2015, reaching 65.5% of the
population. As of the end of 2016, the carrier covers 70% of the population.
Beeline launched service in the cities of Astana, Aksai and Uralsk. By the end of 2016 it plans to
cover eleven more cities: Almaty, Shymkent, Karaganda, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Aktau, Atyrau,
Kostanay, Pavlodar, Semey, Zhezkazgan and Satpaev. The operator expects to be covering 70%
of the population by end-201798. Due to their obligation by the regulator to extend 4G to rural
geographies, and constrained by CAPEX, Beeline and K-Cell negotiated an agreement with the
regulator by which the former covers the north of the country and the later covers the south.
To achieve nationwide coverage, they have signed a mutual roaming agreement. Table 80
summarizes the covered population by broadband technology and carrier.
Table 80: Kazakhstan: Population covered by broadband (by technology) (2016) (%)
Operator ADSL FTTH 3G LTE Kazakhtelecom 70 35 73 70
Vimpelcom (Beeline) 27 73 60
Transtelecom
Alma TV 30 (E)
K-Cell 73 60
Source: Field trip interviews; International Telecommunications Union
Broadband market structure
As mentioned above, the fixed broadband market is comprised by four retail facilities-based
players and several carriers focused on the business market (see table 81).
Table 81: Kazakhstan: Fixed broadband retail market structure (4Q2015)
Number of
Subscribers
Market Share
(by
Subscribers)
(%)
Revenues
(‘000’000)
(US$)
Market Share
(by revenues)
(%) Kazakhtelecom 1,502,632 72.7 57.8 75
Vimpelcom (Beeline) 320,000 15.5 5.4 7
Transtelecom 70,000 3.4 1.5 2
AlmaTV 42,000 2.0 8.5 11 Other (Astek, Kazinform
Telecom, Katzteleport, Ducat
and Asiabell) 132,262 6.3
Total 2,066,894 100 77.1 100
Source: BMI; Kazakhtelecom Annual report; Just Smart Solutions LLP; International Telecommunications Union;
elecom Advisory Services analysis
97 Telegeography. Resurgent Altel reaches two million subs milestone. 10 Apr 2015
98 Telegeography. Beeline launches 4G in Kazakhstan. 7 Jul 2016