Kazakhstan Is Going Participate in Elon Musk’s Starlink Project

Transtelecom, a communication company from Kazakhstan has announced its plans to launch five Starlink base stations in the country. The company reported that the facilities are going to be stationed in the following regions: Nur-Sultan, Almaty, Aktau, Uralsk and Kyzylorda.

The project has been shown to President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev during Digital Bridge, an international forum that is occurring in the capital of Kazakhstan – Nur-Sultan. 

«Starlink experts have reviewed the technical potential of our optical fiber system and data centers and their verdict was positive. Currently, we are working on bringing Starlink equipment to Kazakhstan,» the company said.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation system that is constructed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide satellite internet access to users in remote or rural areas. The project development started in 2015 with the first prototypes called TINTIN successfully launched on February 22, 2018. In May 2019 the company launched the first constellations of 60 satellites. In 2020 SpaceX started to offer its internet services in the northern part of the U.S. and Canada. As of August 2021, there are 100,000 beta-users of Starlink in 14 different countries. The project investments are estimated at the level of $10 billion in total.

In April 2021, Khabar, a Kazakhstani TV channel reported that Starlink base stations might be installed in Kazakhstan to get access to the internet for those who live in remote areas. According to Bagdat Musin, minister of digital development and aerospace industry his agency has negotiated with SpaceX since March.