On 23 August, Almaty successfully hosted the first day of the international telecom conference “Kcell Eurasian Mobile Summit 2023”, which brought together over 1000 participants and speakers from all over the continent.
One of the key topics addressed was business development in the era of AI and 5G. Participants from the telecom sector discussed improving the quality of communications in the country, the introduction of generative artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things in telecommunications and industry, new digital habits, the role of EdTech and AgriTech development, and Big Data in Kazakhstan.
Leaders of the three biggest telcos – Kcell JSC, Beeline Kazakhstan and Tele2/Altel – spoke on various topics related to the development of the industry.
During the Telecom Industry Hard Talk panel discussion with the representatives of Kazakhstan’s telecom industry the conference participants asked the most pressing questions about price increase, increased demand for mobile data in recent years, and the development and introduction of 5G.
To date, Kcell has activated around 200 5G base stations in Almaty, Astana, Shymkent and Turkestan.
“This is cold math for us. We are building the network together with Tele2/Altel, combining our frequency resources, which allows us to double the bandwidth capacity at one base station,” said Askhat Uzbekov, Chairman of the Management Board of Kcell JSC, part of the Kazakhtelecom Group, adding that it makes sense both from the point of view of cost optimization and providing better services to customers.
Sergey Konkov, CEO of Tele2/Altel, noted that the technology will actually allow operators to “digest” a much larger volume of traffic. In the current situation, this is the most relevant way. In addition to the obvious benefits, new services will be built on these networks in the future, as was the case with 4G.
“We basically have two and a bit ways to compete with each other: to build a network and to create products and offers that are cheaper than others. That’s where the leverage ends,” says Sergey Konkov commented.
Until now, 5G has only been available in certain urban areas. Now, 5G is getting ready to enter the home.
“In September we plan to launch the FWA product based on 5G technology. This is a good opportunity for those customers who have not yet been reached by optical fiber to get home internet over a wireless network at speeds similar to optical and even faster. We do not plan to charge rent for the router, the main thing is to pay the tariff fee. The advantage of FWA is that you don’t need to pull wires, drill holes in walls, etc. You just put a router in your apartment or house and all family members can use the fifth generation network,” Magomedgirey Katiev, head of Kcell 5G project, shared his plans.The conference also discussed the importance of developing existing 4G networks. This network should not be underestimated.Foreign expert Jonny Kim, Head of APAC 5G Forum Community and Head of Northeast Asia at GSMA, said: “We should not forget the development of 4G, as it is important to look at the whole ecosystem together to further promote and develop this area. It is important for mobile operators to work with the government and focus on their consumers first”.
However, there are problems with the construction of base stations. This was noted by Evgeny Nastradin, CEO of Beeline:
“Preparing documents for the construction of a base station is as difficult as for a 5-9 storey building. The process takes 6-9 months. This is too long for the current rate of mobile internet consumption. If the regulator can simplify this process, we will be able to build faster, which means we will be able to work more efficiently on the quality of communications”.
“Kcell Eurasian Mobile Summit 2023” became not only a platform for knowledge exchange, but also a source of new ideas in telecommunications. The event was organised by Kcell, a digital operator and Kazakhstan’s largest IT company, and MOST Holding, a programme partner of the conference.