Billions of tenge, thousands of base stations, and grand promises of a digital breakthrough — such is the scale of 5G technology deployment in Kazakhstan. But what lies behind the impressive figures? Spoiler: a monopolised market, corruption schemes, and a complete absence of real benefit for the majority of Kazakh citizens. Is it possible that the biggest technological initiative of recent years is nothing more than an expensive illusion?
“5G is the biggest pile of lies of any technology” — that is how experts characterised the situation in a recent investigation by Business Insider. And if in the USA, where hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent on deploying the technology, the results are disappointing, then what about Kazakhstan, where grand promises of a digital breakthrough shatter against the harsh reality of corruption scandals and infrastructure problems?
Remember how we were promised a digital paradise? Remote surgical operations from anywhere in the world, self-driving cars, smart cities without traffic jams, and even those infamous 5G refrigerators. Five years have passed, and where is all this? It turns out that for most of these fantastic technologies, either 5G is not required at all, or the very idea was questionable from the start.
In Kazakhstan, 5G — or the “big five” — arrived at the end of 2022 with no less fanfare. At auction, the frequencies for 5G went for an astronomical 156 billion tenge. The consortium Mobile Telecom Service and Kcell undertook commitments to build at least 7,000 base stations, promising to invest around 456 billion tenge in infrastructure by 2027. The total bill: hundreds of billions of tenge in state and private funds for a technology which, judging by global experience, barely justifies such investment.
Now let’s dive into the harsh reality.
In the USA, despite titanic investments, users of the largest operators Verizon and AT&T remain connected to the actual 5G network only 10% of the time. And that is despite Americans building almost 100,000 new base stations.
Kazakhstan’s figures are even more sobering. Of the promised 7,000 base stations, by the start of 2025 only around 3,000 had been built. Each such station costs roughly $140,000 (considering the total investment sum) from the pockets of taxpayers and subscribers. Total costs have already exceeded $600 million and continue to grow. And what is the result? The 5G network in the country seems to exist only on paper and in advertising brochures.
The main stumbling block that shattered the pompous promises of digitalisation is the almost complete absence of fibre-optic infrastructure, without which 5G simply cannot function properly. It is like building a modern motorway without bothering to provide petrol stations along its entire length.
But if 5G does not bring the promised benefits to users, then who benefits from it? On a global scale — primarily equipment manufacturers like Ericsson and Nokia. Each new generation of communication is a goldmine for companies supplying infrastructure. Unsurprisingly, they are the ones who shouted loudest about the need to keep up in the mythical race for 5G.
And in Kazakhstan, the deployment of 5G, if you recall, is inextricably linked with the name of Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev, who headed Kazakhtelecom for 14 years. Under his leadership, all frequencies for the new generation networks ended up in the hands of Kazakhtelecom’s subsidiaries — Tele2/Altel and Kcell. Competitors, on the other hand, were shut out of the market.
Immediately before leaving his post, Yessekeyev, as some media outlets report, managed to lobby for a three-year moratorium on the sale of 5G frequencies, cementing his structures’ monopoly in this area. This is akin to the head of a major car company pushing through a law banning the sale of competitors’ cars for three years just before resigning.
And this is against the backdrop of Kazakhtelecom increasingly featuring in high-profile corruption scandals. In March 2025, an investigation into abuses at the Service Factory branch concluded, where officials caused damage amounting to over 460 million tenge. Meanwhile, the Agency for the Protection and Development of Competition (APDC) launched an antitrust investigation over suspicions of setting monopolistically high prices for internet.
And what about the digitalisation of education, especially in rural areas? The Ministry of Digital Development tried to solve the problem with Starlink from Elon Musk. But these remain a rarity — their number in the country is in single figures.
All this happens against the backdrop of information that for years the budget for developing fibre-optic infrastructure was distributed through companies linked to certain influential individuals.
Just a couple of years ago, Yessekeyev promised that by 2027 around 80% of Kazakh citizens would have access to 5G. By presidential order, the deadlines were even accelerated to the end of 2025. But there are less than two years left until the original deadline, less than a year until the accelerated one, and the real 5G coverage in the country leaves much to be desired.
Meanwhile, for the vast majority of users, 4G speed was already more than sufficient. People are not complaining about slow video loading or messaging apps. They are complaining about the complete lack of connection in many areas of the country, especially in rural locations. And 5G, with its short range, only exacerbates this problem.
So what is the point of this race for a phantom? Why are billions of tenge being poured into a technology that does not solve the real problems of the population, but perfectly fills the pockets of certain business groups?
The story of 5G in Kazakhstan is a vivid example of how technology becomes a hostage to ambition and self-interest. Instead of providing basic communication coverage across the entire territory of the country, the authorities and telecom giants chase fashionable trends, turning state and private billions into a technological bubble.
And while high-ranking officials report on yet another “breakthrough in digitalisation”, ordinary Kazakhs continue to search for a spot with at least one “bar” of signal to send a simple message. In this context, promises of revolutionary 5G sound more like a joke.
Perhaps, before chasing shiny technological mirages, it is worth first solving basic infrastructure problems? Or are the multi-billion investments in the “digital future” simply a convenient tool for redistributing budget funds, which was never actually aimed at the real needs of citizens?
Time will tell. But it is already obvious that between the grand promises of a “digital breakthrough” and the reality of Kazakhstan’s telecommunications lies a chasm worth billions of tenge. And this chasm continues to grow.