Increasing Broadband Internet Penetration
In the OIC Member Countries
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technologies, and improve educational programs to develop critical thinking in
students;
• Digital transformations in economic sectors : promote digitization of production
through automating the country’s transport and logistics system, implementing digital
technologies in the field of agriculture and industry, developing e-Commerce,
improving mineral resources` registration system, ensuring geological digital
information safety and accessibility, and implementing technologies in the
development of smart cities; and
• Proactive society: further develop e-Gov and m-Gov applications, increasing the
number of public services delivered online, developing Open Government and a
national spatial data infrastructure.
The Program’s goals to be achieved by 2020, are as follows:• Internet penetration: 78%;
• Terrestrial broadcasting coverage of Kazakhstani population: 95%;
• Digital literacy level of population: 80%;
• Percentage of ICT sector weight in the GDP: 4.7 %;
• Growth of performance in ICT: 34%; and
• Citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of online services obtained independently: 80%.
The Program implementation period is 2017 to 2020. Funding will be supplied from the
national budget, quasi-public sector, and private investments as well as the financial
organizations and loans from development banks. Implementation of the program will be a key
factor for achievement of the goal for Kazakhstan to be ranked in the top thirty most
competitive countries in the world by 2050, an objective set by the President of the Republic of
Kazakhstan in the “Kazkhstan-2050” Strategy.
In terms of the broadband deployment objective, Digital Kazakhstan 2020 plans to deploy a
fiber optics network to villages and cities of 250 and more population (1st phase). The initial
purpose of the plan is to deploy fiber to a village point of presence and from there to hospitals,
police, etc. The capital required ($ 300 million over three years) will be paid for by
Kazakhtelecom, although the government guarantees revenues to be derived from a master
contract to serve hospitals, schools, agricultural bodies, etc. The second phase will consist of
deploying be fiber to smaller cities but only if demand from rural geographies can be
identified. Still there is no decision to deploy distribution last mile loops to households because
the business case has not been developed. The options of technology available at this point for
the last mile are fiber optics (GPON), ADSL, and potentially LTE for fixed broadband. In this
context, Kazakhtelecom would be gradually replacing the CDMA 450 technology110 with LTE
running on 800 MHz spectrum band 111. That being said, the plans for addressing the last mile
distribution to households under the Digital Kazakhstan plan still need to be addressed112.
110 Service quality with CDMA 450 in some areas is no good (some villages get download speeds of 128 Kbps which has an
impact on the population willingness to buy).
111 The 700 MHz band is still utilized by many parties that need to be reassigned before it is used by telecommunications
carriers.
112 Some analysts remain skeptical about the probability of this program to be fully implemented due to the government
bureaucratic limitations.