After three competing mobile operators, Kcell, Tele 2 and Beeline, made an unprecedented decision to jointly build and use the network to cover all villages with a population of 250 people or more with mobile broadband Internet, an unprecedented infrastructure project of the republican significance was launched.
The social landscape of the country is waiting for major changes; Kazakhstani villages are already changing as they gain access to mobile broadband Internet in almost any rural area and throughout the country. The penetration of high-speed mobile Internet into the countryside is already beginning to affect rural life, rural farming formats and the overall picture of rural employment. And right now, despite the pandemic, three mobile operators in Kazakhstan are fully implementing the 250+ project, which will provide access to mobile broadband Internet to residents of about 1,000 rural settlements in all regions of the country with a total population of 600,000.
Following the implementation of this project, broadband Internet access will cover 93.5% of rural residents.
Aybek Nurkadyr, Strategic Development Director of Kcell, drew our attention to the social nature of the project:
“I would like to emphasize that the 250+ project is of great social and low commercial importance. The payback of the project will last decades, even taking into account the joint construction. Low revenue indicators due to low population density, penetration of smartphones, average check and consumption in these settlements, the need for constant operating costs for maintenance, electricity, etc. do not yet allow us talking about the quick payback of the project. This is, first of all, a matter of social responsibility and perspectives for us. The digital divide between urban and rural areas needs to be minimized as much as possible. In the future, the increase in active Internet users due to rural residents means an increase in users of our additional services, which we are now successfully developing. These are future buyers of contract phones, and visitors to our Kcell online store, and users of our telemedicine applications, big data for agriculture, etc.”
Askar Yesserkegenov, Chief Technical Officer of Kcell JSC, spoke about the significance of the project:
“The villagers don’t just get access to broadband mobile Internet. As part of the project, they get access to digital public services, remote education, mobile banking, telemedicine, which is so important in the rural hinterland. Thus, the facets of digital inequality between the village and the city are erased, the social landscape of the country is changing. The 250+ project will become one of the drivers of the Kazakhstani economy development. We see from the statistics and from the feedback, which we receive, that a growing number of rural residents is beginning to use actively the mobile Internet for study, business and leisure. And this is exactly what we want to achieve in the end – that the Internet is used equally actively by villagers and urban residents.”
Thanks to the development of the project, there are already many entrepreneurial people in the rural areas, who have taken advantage of the access to broadband mobile Internet.
Vitaly Sorokin, entrepreneur, told his story.
I was born in the village of Vannovka, now the village of Turar Ryskulov, Tulkubasky district, Turkestan region. I lived and studied in this village until I was 18 years old. I was actively involved in sports, was fond of technology, played in a rock band, and ran a farm with my parents.
In 2005, I entered the Academy of Civil Aviation in Almaty. In 2008, I established own company on security and access control systems with like-minded people, in 2010 we dealt with modern immobilizers and transponders, cooperated with all car dealerships in the Republic of Kazakhstan.
In 2016, I began to organize the auto-sports competitions. Until 2020, I held about 12 international competitions, 4 republican and about 120 amateur series.
In 2020, I returned to the village of Turar Ryskulov to establish a quail farm. All my activities are closely related to the use of the Internet. Surprisingly, I use the Internet much more in the village. After all, I work with animals, and I need to monitor constantly the information about the health status of birds, keeping, breeding, and waste processing. And all my finances, all accounts are also on my phone.
In addition, I do not leave my business in the city, managing it remotely using the mobile Internet. Since I have to spend almost all the time on the go, now my smartphone has a whole office, and not even one. There is a farm and sports, and other things.
I even ordered online a new phone from here.
In connection with the pandemic, the trade market also switched to the Internet platform, we no longer bring our products to the markets, we seek farm-to-table sales to get customer feedback and improve quality. The advent of mobile Internet in rural areas is a great help to farmers. Moreover, I returned to the village after many years in Almaty, and I cannot imagine business development without the Internet.
The villagers will soon understand how it is convenient and profitable to use modern technologies in agriculture. And then… “the villagers will chase the urban residents!” – the competition will certainly increase! (laughs).
