4G LTE Services Gain Momentum in Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan increases its readiness for 5G while pouring cold water on the idea
Kazakhstan’s mobile market had practically reached saturation point as far back as 2012, when penetration reached a peak of 180%. Since then, subscription numbers have crept back down to a more moderate level of 133% in 2020. The decline is partially in response to lesser competition resulting from a period of consolidation amongst the MNOs, which in turn reduced the value of retaining multiple SIM cards in order to take advantage of on-net pricing.
Both mobile voice and mobile broadband subscription rates suffered from reduced demand in 2020 due to the Covid-19 crisis. Mobile was down 5.5% while mobile broadband contracted 6.3%. Nevertheless, the decline in subscriber numbers was more than offset by substantial increases in usage and thus revenue. With 4G LTE networks being widely deployed across the country, the population soaked up the opportunity to increase their data usage for broadband and internet access.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan continues to prepare for the next evolution of mobile, with new 5G trials taking place in different parts of the country in the second half of 2021. A launch of commercial services still seems some way off, however, with the MNOs and the regulator both making public statements to the effect that there is no pressing need to move in that direction much before 2023.
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Companies Mentioned
- Kazakhtelecom
- Astel
- Ducat (formerly Kazintel)
- KazInformTelecom (KIT)
- Transtelecom
