More than 200 settlements in Kazakhstan have no access to the internet

According to Bagdat Musin, minister of digital development, innovations and aerospace industry of Kazakhstan, residents in 200 settlements have no access to the internet even though mobile operators claimed that they have. This statement was made during a meeting of the counting committee which has audited the activities of the ministry.

As he noted, the quality and presence of internet access is an urgent problem.

«In 2019 we did 50 examinations of the quality of the communications. Last year we did 560 such examinations. In 2019 mobile operators paid just $32,200 in fines; in 2020 the total number of penalties reached $300,700. We’ve put more effort into control of these services. As a result, companies have started to reveal information about those settlements without internet access. Now they have acknowledged that there are 200 villages with no access to the internet even though there is mobile network coverage,» said Musin. 

As he noted, mobile operators now understand that the government is going to control the quality of the internet as mobile brigades travel from village to village with special measuring equipment.