Webstan - Internet in Central Asia

Central Asian Internet Penetration from World Bank

2009-11-11T22:37:00.000-08:00

Today Google announced public data available from World Bank integrated into Google Search.

Below you can see graph with Internet penetration in Central Asian countries:

Link: Internet Penetration in Central Asia 1997-2008

Internet penetration seems to be several times higher, thus more optimistic, comparing to data from ITU for all countries (see also 'at a glance' articles of this blog for each country: KZ KG TJ TM UZ).

Facebook reached Odnoklassniki in Kazakhstan?

2009-11-08T01:07:00.000-08:00

In Google Trends, tool which compares search volume for given queries, you can see that Facebook has now caught Odnoklassniki by Google search queries numbers in Kazakhstan.

As you can see on the graph Odnoklassniki queries emerged in the country in November 2007 since then it boomed until middle 2008. Facebook raised in October 2008 and started to catch up with Russian social network in September 2009.

Link: Google Trends - Facebook vs Odnoklassniki in Kazakhstan

Top cities in Kazakhstan where Odnoklassniki is more popular:
1. Kustanay*
2. Koshetau*
3. Karaganda*
4. Pavlodar*
5. Astana
6. Chimkent*
7. Almaty*
8. Atyrau

* - more queries than Facebook

Top languages for Odnoklassniki queries:
1. Russian
2. Kazakh
3. English

Top cities in Kazakhstan where Facebook is more popular:
1. Atyrau*
2. Astana*
3. Chimkent
4. Almaty

* - more queries than Odnoklassniki

Top languages for Facebook queries:
1. Turkish
2. Italian
3. English
4. Kazakh
5. Russian

From language data possible guess could be that Turkish expats are ones of the heaviest Facebook users in Kazakhstan. What is your opinion on that? Why do you think Italian is also so high? Please add your comments below.

What about other Central Asian countries? Unfortunately there is not enough search volume for Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. There is some data for 2009 for Uzbekistan though. Odnoklassniki seem to dominate for now.

Link: Google Trends - Facebook vs Odnoklassniki in Uzbekistan

At a glance:

Odnoklassniki
Launched: 2006/03
Registered users: 30'000'000 (2009/02)
http://blog.quintura.com/2009/02/26/odnoklassnikiru-hits-30-million-registered-users/?owa_from=feed&owa_sid=

Facebook
Launched: 2004/02/04
Registered users: 100'000'000 (2008/08)
Active users: 150'000'000 (2009/01)

IT Cooperation Between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan

2008-03-01T05:17:00.000-08:00

Yerlan Durmagambetov, the deputy chairman of the Agency for Information and Communications of Kazakhstan gave an interview to S. Babayeva, Azerbaijan's Trend Capital news agency journalist.

Question: What would you recommend Azerbaijan for the establishment of efficient model of Electronic Government?

Answer: The development of the information and communication technologies has become an important factor in the world community’s life. Their wider applications have improved the public life and lead to the revolutionary progress in the economic, social, culture and other spheres. One of the major tasks set for Kazakhstan is the establishment of information society. This task is being successfully fulfilled in Kazakhstan, thanks to the implementation of a program on development of Electronic Government allocated for the period till 2010. At present, measures to form an infrastructure of Electronic Governments have been realized in Kazakhstan.

The action plan on formation of infrastructure of the Electronic Government was developed in consideration with the experience of countries which have considerable achievements in this sphere – Korea, Singapore, India, Estonia, the United States, Italy and Germany.

The application of Electronic Government in Azerbaijan was carried out in four stages:

- Information – publication and dissemination of information (2005-2006);

- Interactive – interactive services rendered through straight and reverse interaction between the state bodies and citizens (2006-2007);

- Transaction – transactional interaction through implementing financial operations through the government portal (2007 – 2008);

- Formation of information society, with the domination of electronic services over papers, which will cover the full life-cycle of the mankind (2010 and after).

At present, actions are taken to realize a program on decreasing the information inequality in Kazakhstan in 2007–2009. The key task of the program is to carry out full scale actions for the computer literacy of the population and training of qualified teachers and IT specialists. Incredible work is being done in Kazakhstan currency with respect to make computers and Internet more accessible. Thus, tariffs for access to the international network are decreased and measures to develop the Kazakh segment of the world network are taken. Within the framework of formation of the Electronic Government, twelve IТ-projects were implemented- with seven already set for implementations.

An important aspect in formation of the Electronic Government is the program management structure. The experience of Denmark, Canada and Korea shows that this cooperation between the administrations in charge of distributing funds, contributes in the development of principles, enabling to cover a range of aspects regarding the Electronic Government. We advise Azerbaijan to study the experience of South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore for successful building of the Electronic Government.

Question: What major projects could Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan carry out jointly in the near future?

Answer: At the moment, the project on the construction of the Subsea Fiber Optic cable via the Caspian Sea from Siyazan to Aktau is at the initial phase. It is also possible to carry out projects on exchange of experience in the implementation of the Electronic Government projects

Question: How will the countries be benefited from the realization of project on construction of Caspian segment of the Trans-Asia-Europe (TAE) fiber-optic cable?

Answer: The Communications Administrations have determined managers under this project. KAzTransKom, one of the big operators of city and international communications acts from the part of Kazakhstan. At present, the procedures for the selection of a consultant on development of feasibility study of the project are underway.

Every party has its interest in the implementation of the project. Kazakhstan is particularly interested in designing alternative line to the European countries and increasing its transit potential.

Source: Capital.TrendAz.com

Number of Uzbek Internet Users Exceeds 2.01 Million

2008-02-27T05:26:00.000-08:00

The number of Internet users in Uzbekistan exceeded 2.01 million, the Uzbek agency for communication and information (UzACI) said in a press release.

As of 1 January 2008, more than 780 entities were providing data transfer services, including Internet access. There are currently more than 6,000 active domains in the national domain zone UZ.

Mobile subscribers amounted to 5.888 million as of 1 January, having increased by 3.168 million during 2007.

The number of companies and organizations producing software in Uzbekistan was more than 210 at the end of last year.

According to UzACI, enterprises of the ICT sector provided services worth 882 billion soums last year, of which 517 billion soums or 58.6% were services to the population.

Source: UzDaily

Webstan note:
Number of Internet users in Uzbekistan in May 2007 [source: ITU] used to be 1,745,000 users or 6.6% of population. CIA.gov estimate of current population is 27,780,059 (July 2007), it means penetration rate has grown up by 0.6% in half-year up to 7.2%.

Belarus Software Company to Build a Search Engine for Kazakhstan

2008-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

SoftInform sofware development company from Belarus opened its branch in Almaty, Kazakhstan in February 2008. One of its first goals of SoftInform is to gain image in Kazakhstan by developing a new search engine for users of Kazakhstan.

SoftInform has experience in developing search engines and information security products.

WiMax in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan

2008-02-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

AsiaInfo Internet Provider announced a start of development and testing of a new wireless broadband Internet access in Kyrgyzstan. It's a first WiMax technology in Kyrgyzstan.

First base station with 15km radius has already been installed in the capital - Bishkek, it's able to provide WiMax Internet access to the whole city. Approximate radius of Bishkek city is about 8 kilometers.

Price plans (converted to euro as of 24/02/2008):
1) Office - Eco
Installation 18 euro
Monthly payment 21 euro
Traffic limit: 250Mb international, 1Gb Kyrgyzstan
Extra traffic: 1 Gb international - 40 euro, 1Gb Kyrgyzstan - 1.5 euro
Connection speed: 64Kbps

2) Office - Optim
Installation 28 euro
Monthly payment 35.5 euro
Traffic limit: 650Mb international, 3Gb Kyrgyzstan
Extra traffic: 1 Gb international - 38 euro, 1Gb Kyrgyzstan - 1.4 euro
Connection speed: 128Kbps

3) Office - Pro
Installation 36 euro
Monthly payment 60 euro
Traffic limit: 1400Mb international, 8Gb Kyrgyzstan
Extra traffic: 1 Gb international - 36 euro, 1Gb Kyrgyzstan - 1.3 euro
Connection speed: 256Kbps

Official price-list:
AsiaInfo WiMax Price Plans (Russian language)

You can compare prices to mobile Internet providers here:
Mobile Internet Prices in Kyrgyzstan

Here are comparison-friendly price plans converted to USD:
1) Office - Eco
First month + installation: $58, i.e. 1Mb international - $0.23, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.06
Other months: 1Mb international - $0.13, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.03
Extra traffic: 1Mb international - $0.06, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.002

2) Office - Optim
First month + installation: $95, i.e. 1Mb international - $0.15, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.03
Other months: 1Mb international - $0.09, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.02
Extra traffic: 1Mb international - $0.05, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.002

3) Office - Pro
First month + installation: $142, i.e. 1Mb international - $0.10, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.02
Other months: 1Mb international - $0.06, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.01
Extra traffic: 1Mb international - $0.05, 1Mb Kyrgyzstan - $0.002

Some conclusions from AsiaInfo WiMax vs Mobile Internet comparison:

WiMax from AsiaInfo is always cheaper for Kyrgyzstan traffic.
WiMax from AsiaInfo is cheaper and faster if you need more than 1400Mb international or 8Gb Kyrgyzstan traffic.
Mobile Internet from Fonex or Nexi is faster and cheaper than AsiaInfo's Office-Eco and Office-Optim.
Mobile Internet has no traffic limit and distinction between international and Kyrgyzstan traffic.

Image from: JohnTP.com

Freedom of Speech in the Internet in Central Asia 2008

2008-02-23T16:49:00.000-08:00

Reporters without Borders published new reports about freedom of speech and specifically Internet censorship. Here are reports on Central Asian countries:

Freedom of Speech in Kazakhstan [Internet cases]
Freedom of Speech in Kyrgyzstan
Freedom of Speech in Tajikistan [Internet cases]
Freedom of Speech in Turkmenistan [Internet cases]
Freedom of Speech in Uzbekistan [Internet cases]

Uzbek .uz Domains Reach 6000

2008-02-23T16:37:00.000-08:00

Uzbek Telecom reported that .uz domains registrations reached 6,000 milestone in 14th of February.

It's an increase of 2,000 domains versus the same period last year. The total number of domains registered last year was 3,224, and 1,069 were removed.

There are seven official domain registrar companies in Uzbekistan. The registration fee is between USD 18 and USD 25.

Source: Telecom Paper

Mysterious NewsCentralAsia.net

2008-02-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

Blogger from NewEurasia.net is suspicious about NewsCentralAsia.net portal.

Here is the article: A Mysterious Web Portal

Kyrgyzstan to Change Cyrillic to Latin

2008-02-23T10:56:00.001-08:00

Bishkek Press Club asked Tashboo Jumagulov, the chairman of the National Commission of state language, and the parliamentarian Zainidin Kurmanov to give their comments about the discussions in the parliament about switching the Kyrgyz alphabet from Cyrillic to Roman. The chairman of the national commission says that sooner or later Kyrgyzstan should be using Roman letters, since all of Turkic people except Kyrgyzstan use Roman, and Kazakhstan will complete switching to it by 2010. In addition, continues Jumagulov, about 85% of Kyrgyzstan population speaks Turkic languages, and 80% of the world use Roman, and the most important thing, it is more appropriate to Kyrgyz language than Cyrillic. Kyrgyz people had been using Roman letters for 18 years before using Cyrillic. At the same time, only 10 countries in the world use Cyrillic and 9 of them are Slavic people.

The parliamentarian Kurmanov thinks that it is not the right time for Kyrgyzstan for changing its alphabet because it is quite expensive and there are more important problems to be solved. Though he notes that most Turkic countries are changing to Roman, and it is an inevitable process. Both of them also indicate that it is a matter of economic situation in Kyrgyzstan.

It seems that Kyrgyzstan can learn the experience of neighbor countries, carefully analyzing pros and cons of such a big transformation. Also, changing the alphabet can cause much confusion for Russian speaking people who study Kyrgyz language, and a huge misunderstanding between generations who taught different alphabets.

Source: NewEurasia.net

IT Cooperation between Russia and Uzbekistan

2008-02-23T10:44:00.000-08:00

Boris Yevgenyevich Atamanov, the head of Russian trade representative office in Uzbekistan told about perspectives and conditions of economic relations between Uzbekistan and Russia during his interview with Uzbekistan Today.

Here is his opinion about IT cooperation between the countries:

[...]

UT: The cooperation in high technology between our countries also intensifies. What projects are planned in this sector?

BA: - That’s true; information technology today along with fuel-energy complex is one of the most developing sectors of mutual cooperation.

The investment volume of Mobile Tele Systems public corporation (MTS) in Uzbekistan economy made up US$250 million. The Russian “VympelCom” also intends to invest US$150 million into cellular communications in Uzbekistan.

Russian Eventis Telecom Investment Company has invested US$5 million in internet services in Uzbekistan in 2007.

[...]

Full interview: Uzbekistan Today

Steppe Blog Guide: Blogging in Central Asia

2008-02-22T14:41:00.000-08:00

Steppe Magazine contains wonderful photography and is beautiful designed. On top of that, the well written articles are an intelligent sharp selection of the current affairs in Central Asia. Last week I received the winter issue, and again it was a great read. It will be no surprise that I especially can recommend ‘Steppe Blog Guide‘, this article gives a nice and clear overview of the blogging scene in Central Asia.

Also on the web pages of the network of weblogs NewEurasia, you can find the online Central Asia Blog guide, a fine list of useful, relevant and lively weblogs.

Source: Digital Sketches

Article by NewEurasia.net: Central Asian Blogs

Free Internet for Disabled in Uzbekistan

2008-02-22T14:14:00.000-08:00

USDB, Uzbek Society of Disabled People, started up a project that provides free Internet access for disabled in 6 out of 14 regions of Uzbekistan. But there are more regions planned to be covered.

This project gives a free Internet access possibility to about 2 million disabled people in Uzbekistan in total. It was realized with the help of by Uzbek Ministry for Foreign Economic Relations and Government of Japan.

Source: Infocom.uz (Russian language)
Representative photo is used from physorg.com

PCs with Mobile Broadband from Microsoft and MTS in Central Asia

2008-02-22T14:01:00.000-08:00

Software giant Microsoft is working with Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS) to launch their subscription based program in in Armenia, Belarus, Russia, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.

The two companies would now offer Windows-based PCs on a subscription basis in those countries similarly to the service provided by Microsoft in Mexico and Brazil. The partnership between them was announced at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

It's planned to start providing work stations with Windows Vista and built-in mobile broadband access by June 2008.

Source: TechWhack.com

K'cell Selects Telenity's Canvas Converged Messaging Solutions

2008-02-17T17:49:00.000-08:00

Fastest Growing Operator in Kazakhstan Deploys Canvas SMSC and MMSC.

Telenity announced that K’cell deployed Telenity’s next generation IP-based Short Message Service Center, Canvas SMSC and Multimedia Messaging Service Center, Canvas MMSC in its GSM network.

Since its initial operation, K’cell has lead a key role in giving tone and direction to the rapid development and growth of the cellular market in Kazakhstan where mobile penetration is anticipated to grow 60% in the next three years. Through its visionary actions, K’cell was the first to launch GPRS/EDGE technologies, and millions of subscribers in Kazakhstan enjoyed such services as Mobile Internet, WAP, and MMS throughout the country. Currently K’cell is actively preparing for its 3G network implementation offering its subscribers revolutionary services such as Video-calls and Mobile Television. Within this project, K’cell carried out legacy and end-of-life replacements and installation of new equipment including higher capacity messaging servers, Canvas SMSC and Canvas MMSC, ready to support next generation services.

The success of SMS service is due to its very fast means of peer-to-peer communication and addition of new subscribers. Industry analysts estimate that by 2012, global SMS revenues will reach US$67 billion driven by 3.7 trillion messages. The ongoing growth of SMS requires wireless operators to continue to replace their legacy messaging network infrastructure and build out and upgrade to a more modular network environment.

“We were looking for a messaging solution that would resolve our traffic peak, maintenance cost, flexible routing and revenue assurance issues,” stated Veysel Aral, CEO at K’cell. “Telenity’s Canvas SMSC and Canvas MMSC met both our technical and business requirements and they are allowing us to get ready for our 3G network implementation with a sound IP-based architecture.”

“K’cell is a great example of a leading operator with the right vision and successful execution for the next generation mobile world,” says Dilip Singh, CEO at Telenity. “K’cell has rapidly grown to over six million subscribers and by aggressively expanding and replacing multiple legacy messaging platforms with the next generation converged integrated messaging platform, it’s ensuring that its customers experience the highest quality always-on messaging and innovative value added services”.

“With K’cell as our customer where nearly 100% of its SMS traffic goes through our Canvas SMSC, Telenity is now providing all affiliate companies of Fintur Holdings with it’s Canvas portfolio of next generation solutions, such as converged messaging, ringback tones, and value added services including video services,” said Serif Beykoz, General Manager, Telenity EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa). “We are proud to have Fintur affiliates’ trust in and endorsement of our products.”

Canvas SMSC and Canvas MMSC are an integral part of Telenity’s converged messaging solutions that are all built on a common operating environment that avoids the silo nature of point solutions, while providing a common architecture and administrative environment for all value added services for current (2G/3G) and future IMS networks. Canvas SMSC and Canvas MMSC are high performance systems with a fault tolerant real time charging capability. They enhance revenues from person-to-person (P2P) and application-to-person (A2P) messaging with a modular, scalable next generation IP based architecture designed to save operators both CAPEX and OPEX.

Canvas SMSC and Canvas MMSC help operators to:

* Gracefully handle traffic peaks to assure additional/no lost revenues
* Increase ARPU by enabling more applications without system overload or service outage
* Reduce their maintenance costs with open standards based system infrastructure
* Ensure future network agnostic solution supporting both legacy and nextgen networks
* Add on to their current infrastructure yet grow thus preserving their investment
* Maximize their revenue assurance and minimize fraud with real time charging

Source: java.sys-con.com

Internet Cafes and Their Prices in Kyrgyzstan

2008-02-17T17:03:00.000-08:00

In Kyrgyzstan, especially in the capital - Bishkek, you can find internet cafes almost at every corner, they are very popular among local citizens, even some people who have computers and Internet at home go to Internet cafes to get better speed for less money.

The best and only Internet cafe chain in Kyrgyzstan is called "Shmelle" ("Шмель") what means Bumblebee in Russian. For now it's the only real _brand_ among Kyrgyzstan Internet cafes and it's also increasingly popular.

Shmelle's price-list is very representative for all Internet cafes prices in Bishkek:

Internet (1 hour) 06:00-23:00 30 som ~ 0.60 euro
Internet (1 hour) 23:00-06:00 50 som ~ 1.00 euro
Microsoft Office (1 hour) 15 som ~ 0.30 euro

Photocopy (1 page) 1.5 som ~ 0.03 euro
Printing (1 page) 2 som ~ 0.04 euro

Floppy disc (1 disc) 20 som ~ 0.40 euro
CD (1 disc) 10 som ~ 0.20 euro
Burning CD (1 dics) 15 som ~ 0.30 euro

Looking at price-list you can see that some clients still use floppy discs and some come to the Internet cafes just to work with Microsoft Office application.

Some internet-cafes in Kyrgyzstan charge by bandwidth, so there clients usually say beforehand how much they want to spend at maximum. These Internet-cafes are extremely cheap for text data services like email or Google search, you may spend 5 som (0.10 euro) after half hour checking email, but if you plan to surf youtube it's better to go for Shmelle or similar ones.

You can also find Internet connection in computer game clubs, usually there are couple of computers dedicated for Internet users.

Here are the Shmelle's prices for Internet-telephony which is also widely used:
---------------------------------
Country ------------- Price (som)
---------------------------------
Afghanistan Mobile 16
Afghanistan Proper 16
Armenia Mobile 17
Armenia Proper 8
Armenia Yerevan city 7
Australia Mobile 14
Australia Proper 4
Austria Mobile 14
Austria Proper 4
Azerbaijan Baku city 10
Azerbaijan Mobile 14
Azerbaijan Proper 13
Bangladesh Mobile 11
Bangladesh Proper 13
Belarus Mobile 17
Belarus Proper 15
Belgium Brussels 3,5
Belgium Mobile 17
Brazil Mobile 10
Brazil Proper 7
Brazil Rio De Janeiro 5
Bulgaria Mobile - Globul 15
Bulgaria Proper 7
Canada 3
Cuba Proper 53
Cyprus Mobile 8
Cyprus Proper 8
Czech Republic Mobile 14
Czech Republic Proper 5
Denmark Mobile 16
Denmark Proper 4
Egypt Mobile 16
Egypt Proper 16
Finland Mobile 12
Finland Proper 4
France Mobile 11
France Paris 3,5
France Proper 3,5
Georgia Mobile - Geocell 12
Georgia Mobile - Iberiatel 14
Georgia Proper 7
Georgia Tbilisi city 7
Germany 3
Germany Mobile - All Carriers 16
Greece Mobile 12
Greece Proper 4
Hong Kong 4
Hungary Mobile 16
Hungary Proper 6
India 11
Indonesia Mobile 14
Indonesia Proper 9
Iran Mobile 11
Iran Proper 10
Iraq Baghdad 7
Iraq Mobile 16
Iraq Proper 14
Ireland Mobile 14
Ireland Proper 4
Israel Mobile 12
Israel Proper 4
Italy Mobile - All Carriers 18
Italy Mobile - Elsacom 18
Italy Mobile - H3G 24
Italy Mobile - TIM 16
Italy Mobile - Vodafone 15
Italy Mobile 18
Italy Proper 4
Jamaica Mobile - All Carriers 17
Jamaica Proper 12
Japan Mobile 15
Japan Proper 4
Jordan Mobile 18
Jordan Proper 13
Kazakhstan Almaty city 4
Kazakhstan Astana city 5
Kazakhstan Mobile 11
Kazakhstan Proper 9
Korea North Proper 28
Korea South Mobile 10
Korea South Proper 4
Kuwait Mobile 11
Kuwait Proper 11
Kyrgyzstan Bishkek city 4
Kyrgyzstan Mobile - BITEL 7
Kyrgyzstan Mobile - FONEX 7
Kyrgyzstan Mobile - KATEL 7
Kyrgyzstan Proper 7
Latvia Mobile 17
Latvia Proper 10
Lithuania Mobile 14
Lithuania Proper 7
Malaysia Mobile 5
Malaysia Proper 4
Moldova Mobile 16
Moldova Proper 9
Nepal Mobile 25
Nepal Proper 26
Netherlands Mobile 23
Netherlands Proper 3
Norway Mobile 14
Norway Proper 4
Oman Mobile 17
Oman Proper 17
Pakistan Islamabad 9
Pakistan Karachi 7
Pakistan Lahore 9
Pakistan Mobile 9
Pakistan Proper 9
Peru Mobile - Other Cities 19
Peru Proper 11
Philippines Mobile 16
Philippines Proper 13
Poland Mobile 18
Poland Proper 4
Portugal Mobile 18
Portugal Proper 18
Qatar Mobile 28
Qatar Proper 25
Romania Bucharest 12
Romania Mobile 17
Romania Proper 12
Russia Moscow city 3
Russia mobile 4
Russia Proper 4
Russia St. Petersburg city 3
Saudi Arabia Mobile 15
Saudi Arabia Proper 13
Saudi Arabia Riyadh 12
Spain Madrid 4
Spain Mobile - Telefonica 18
Swaziland Mobile 14
Swaziland Proper 14
Sweden Mobile - Vodafone 18
Sweden Proper 3,5
Switzerland Mobile 19
Switzerland Proper 4
Syria Mobile 16
Syria Proper 16
Taiwan Mobile 9
Taiwan Pager 4
Tajikistan Dushanbe city 9
Tajikistan Mobile 13
Tajikistan Proper 14
Turkey Mobile 12
Turkey Proper 5
Turkmenistan Mobile 12
Turkmenistan Proper 11
Ukraine Kiev city 8
Ukraine Kiev city, Ukrcom 8
Ukraine Kiev region 8
Ukraine Mobile - WellCOM 10
Ukraine Odessa city 8
Ukraine Odessa region 8
Ukraine Proper 9
United Arab Emirates Mobile 15
United Arab Emirates Proper 15
United Kingdom London 3
United Kingdom Mobile 16
United Kingdom Proper 3
United States Proper 3
Uzbekistan Mobile 11
Uzbekistan Proper 7
Uzbekistan Tashkent city 7

1 som ~ 0.02 euro

International calls prices with Internet-telephony are also beating all other international calls prices - landline, mobile, Internet-telephony from home.

Kazakhstan's "Samghau" to Pursue WiMAX Developments together with "Thales"

2008-02-16T04:22:00.000-08:00

ASTANA. In Kazakhstan, the National Science and Technology Holding Company (Samghau) announced an agreement with Thales Group to jointly develop information and technology businesses.

In a press statement, Samghau said the companies “have agreed to cooperate and to develop strategic business relationships to achieve common interests in technology and commercial issues in the development of joint projects.”

The agreement is focussed on the areas of e-services for government, education and medicine. In addition, the companies will deploy solutions for broadband Internet, particularly with a focus on developing systems for WiMAX “at the local and national levels.”

Samghau is a company owned by the Republic of Kazakhstan, engaged in the development of numerous technologies. Thales Group is a global supplier of advanced information technology systems for aerospace, security and defence.

While Samghau did not release further details about its agreement with Thales, it dove-tails into the recently announced National Info-Kommunications Operator (NIKO) program, a USD 300 million effort that “will allow for the use and consolidation of existing [telecoms] infrastructure, the need to build new infrastructure, and the introduction and development of modern technologies for data transfer,” said a Samghau press release.

Last month, the chairman of the Agency for Information and Communications, Kuanyshbek Yessekeyev, underscored this initiative when he announced that broadband access is a key priority for Kazakhstan, and that technologies like WiMAX should help increase Internet penetration to over 20% of the population. According to the Agency, as of December 2007, Kazakhstan had 1.9 million Internet users, or 12.3% of the country, however the majority of these users suffer from low data rates.

For 2008, the Agency will demand that all Internet access providers in Kazakhstan must supply access to subscribers “at a rate not less than 256 Kbps.”
The telecommunications industry in Kazakhstan is in the process of liberalisation, and is now comprised of several operators, including: Kazakhtelecom (a subsidiary of Samghau), Transtelecom, KazTransCom, Arna, and Astel. Several companies have been awarded licenses for 3.5 GHz spectrum, including Kazakhtelecom, Nursat, Escape Wireless, Eventis Telecom and Meganet.

Kazakhtelecom has the most advanced infrastructure in Kazakhstan, and sources say it is planning to complete the deployment of its WiMAX network this year, which was partly financed by a USD 110 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. In 2007 the company contracted with Alcatel-Lucent (a strategic partner and shareholder of Thales) to “deploy a Next Generation Network (NGN)…providing a full range of state-of-the-art advanced services based on IP technologies,” Alcatel-Lucent said in a press release.
A spokesman for Kazakhtelecom told WiMAX Day that it is presently building a “wireless broadcast access network on WiMAX technology for the cities Astana and Aktobe.”
In addition to local service providers, the Russian company Summa Telecom began operations in Kazakhstan last year, and in December 2007 acquired licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum, according to a report in ComNews.

The Agency has said that additional licenses for 2.5 GHz spectrum may be auctioned in the future, but for the moment, licenses will be issued only on a “case-by-case” basis. An investigation of spectrum usage is on-going, and an Agency spokesman said that spectrum in Kazakhstan may be consolidated later this year, in an effort to ensure “alignment with ITU standards.”

Source: WiMAX Day

Facebook Usage Update. Uzbekistan

2008-02-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

Here is the introductory post about Facebook usage statistics by Uzbekistan users:
Uzbekistan is in Top 75 Countries in Facebook

Uzbekistan is still the only Central Asian country in Top 75 countries using Facebook. Here you can see the growth of Uzbek Facebook users:

Population: 27 372 000 [Wikipedia, UN estimate, mid year 2007]
Internet Penetration: 1,745,000 users / 6.4% [May, 2007 ITU]
Facebook users 08/12/2007: 1 766 (rank 71; ~0,10% of all users)
Facebook users 08/01/2008: 2 069 (rank 70; ~0,12% of all users; +17.16%)
Facebook users 08/02/2008: 2 351 (rank 71; ~0,14% of all users; +13.63%)

More data: SEO & Web Marketing News. Canadian Blog

Internet Access and Exporting Correlation in Eastern Europe and Central Asia

2008-02-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

"Information Economics and Policy" Journal recent issue (March, 2008) contains an interesting article by George Clarke from The World Bank, Has the internet increased exports for firms from low and middle-income countries.

Here is the abstract from the article:

Many commentators have suggested that the internet is one of the forces driving globalization. This paper assesses one aspect of these claims, looking at whether internet access appears to affect the export performance using data from enterprises in low and middle-income economies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The paper finds a strong correlation between exporting and internet access at the enterprise level. Moreover, this correlation remains after controlling factors that might affect both exports and internet connectivity and self-selectivity.

Full article: here

News found on: Dr. John Rutledge on Technology, Policy, Economics, Investing, and Business

Video Web 2.0 Project in Kyrgyzstan

2008-02-07T16:45:00.001-08:00

Here is the Web 2.0 project from Kyrgyzstan: www.video.kg. This "Kyrgyz YouTube" has a very good advantage for users from Kyrgyz Republic comparing to other video web-sites, because it is hosted locally and local traffic is much cheaper than international traffic in Kyrgyzstan.

New Web 2.0 Project in Kazakhstan: Newzzz.kz

2008-02-07T15:25:00.000-08:00

Newzzz.kz is a new Web 2.0 project from Kazakhstan. It's Kazakh own digg.com.

“Newzzz.KZ provides social news in Kazakhstan. You publish everything interesting what is happening in Kazakhstan and around. You decide which news are worth reading” - says the offcial disclaimer.

Every registered user receives not only the right to publish premoderated posts, but also a chance to win 5,000 tenge. Premoderation screens off hooligans and promotes the best posts to the main page. On your left you can see a tag cloud. In order to attract users they exploit moral incentive in addition to the financial one - top users are ranked in a separate rating.

“Part of the site’s creators was born in Kazakhstan, and another part simply respects this country, … which unfortunately lacks good websites”, reads the “About the project” chapter - so, in fact, this is a non-Kazakh product.

Regretfully, in spite of great ideology of the project (much more efficient and up-to-date than, say, “Newsfactory” that has eaten away lots of donor’s money), which could create a real alternative to the traditional media and overcome the vacuum of information fro the country’s regions, so far the protal is overwhelmingly stuffed with the news that are not related to Kazakhstan at all, and that are not the posts actually - but mere reprints fro the mainstream media.

Site language: Russian

Source: NewEurasia.net

Link: Newzzz.kz - Only Your News (Kazakhstan)

Economist: Technology in Emerging Economies. Of Internet Cafés and Power Cuts.

2008-02-07T15:04:00.000-08:00

Feb 7th 2008. From The Economist print edition

Emerging economies are better at adopting new technologies than at putting them into widespread use

Panos

WITHIN a few months China will overtake America as the country with the world's largest number of internet users. Even when you factor in China's size and its astonishing rate of GDP growth, this will be a remarkable achievement for what remains a poor economy. For the past three years China has also been the world's largest exporter of information and communications technology (ICT). It already has the same number of mobile-phone users (500m) as the whole of Europe.

China is by no means the only emerging economy in which new technology is being eagerly embraced. In frenetic Mumbai, everyone seems to be jabbering non-stop on their mobile phones: according to India's telecoms regulator, half of all urban dwellers have mobile- or fixed-telephone subscriptions and the number is growing by 8m a month. The India of internet cafés and internet tycoons produces more engineering graduates than America, makes software for racing cars and jet engines and is one of the top four pharmaceutical producers in the world. In a different manifestation of technological progress, the country's largest private enterprise, Tata, recently unveiled the “one lakh car”; priced at the equivalent of $2,500, it is the world's cheapest. Meanwhile, in Africa, people who live in mud huts use mobile phones to pay bills or to check fish prices and find the best market for their catch.

Yet this picture of emerging-market technarcadia is belied by parallel accounts of misery and incompetence. Last year ants ate the hard drive of a photographer in Thailand. Last week internet usage from Cairo to Kolkata was disrupted after something—probably an earthquake—sliced through two undersea cables. Personal computers have spread slowly in most emerging economies: three-quarters of low-income countries have fewer than 15 PCs per 1,000 people—and many of those computers are gathering dust.

And the feting of prominent technology projects in emerging economies is sometimes premature. Nicholas Negroponte, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has long been championing a $100 laptop computer, presented with most fanfare at the World Economic Forum in Davos two years ago. The laptop was supposed to sweep through poor countries, scattering knowledge and connectivity all around. But the project is behind schedule, the computer does not work properly and one prominent backer, Intel, a chipmaker, has pulled out.

So how well are emerging economies using new technology, really? Hitherto, judgments have had to be based largely on anecdotes. Now the World Bank has supplemented the snapshot evidence with more comprehensive measures.

Take-off to tomorrow, and to yesterday

The bank has drawn up indices based on the usual array of numbers: computers and mobile phones per head, patents and scientific papers published; imports of high-tech and capital goods. In addition, it uses things such as the number of hours of electricity per day and airline take-offs to capture the absorption of 19th- and 20th-century technologies. It tops this off with measures of educational standards and financial structure, which show whether technology companies can get qualified workers and enough capital. The results, laid out last month in the bank's annual Global Economic Prospects report, measure technological progress in its broadest sense: as the spread of ideas, techniques and new forms of business organisation.

Technology so defined is fundamental to economic advance. Without it, growth would be limited to the contributions of increases in the size of the labour force and the capital stock. With it, labour and capital can be used and combined far more effectively. So it is good news that the bank finds that the use of modern technology in emerging economies is coming on in leaps and bounds.

Between the early 1990s and the early 2000s, the index that summarises the indicators rose by 160% in poor countries (with incomes per person of less than about $900 a year at current exchange rates) and by 100% in middle-income ones ($900-11,000). The index went up by only 77% in industrialised countries (with average incomes above $11,000), where technology was more advanced to start with. Poor and middle-income nations, the bank concludes, are catching up with the West.

The main channels through which technology is diffused in emerging economies are foreign trade (buying equipment and new ideas directly); foreign investment (having foreign firms bring them to you); and emigrants in the West, who keep families and firms in their countries of origin abreast of new ideas. All are going great guns.

To me, to you, to me, to you

Start with trade. In the past ten years the ratio of poor countries' imports of high-tech products to their GDPs has risen by more than 50%. The ratio in middle-income countries has increased by over 70%. Capital goods (mainly industrial machinery) often embody new technology, and imports of these have increased faster in middle-income countries than in rich ones.

The gain in high-tech exports has been more striking still: emerging economies' share of global trade in such goods rose by 140% between the mid-1990s and the mid-2000s. Some of the world's fastest-growing multinationals have sprung from such countries. These include Brazil's Petrobras, owner of some of the world's best deep-sea oil-drilling technology, and Mittal, a company of Indian origin that is now the world's largest steelmaker.

Relative to GDP, inflows of foreign direct investment to developing economies have increased sevenfold since the 1980s. In some countries, such as Hungary and Brazil, foreign firms account for half or more of all R&D spending by companies. This has had dramatic demonstration effects. Local French-language call centres in Morocco and Tunisia got going only after French operators began outsourcing to the Maghreb. A quarter of Czech managers said they learned about new technologies by watching foreign companies in the Czech Republic.

Emigrants are arguably the most important source of new ideas and capital. Granted, emigration can be costly: computer engineers, scientists and doctors, trained at public expense at home, go to work abroad. But money and skills flow back. Nearly half the $40 billion-worth of foreign direct investment in China in 2000 came from Chinese abroad. Remittances have doubled in the past ten years and now account for roughly 2% of developing countries'GDPs—more than foreign aid. An émigré banker returned to set up Bangladesh's Grameenphone banking network last year; it now has 15m customers. Bata, a Czech shoemaker, has been saved twice by foreign connections. Facing bankruptcy in the early 1900s, Tomas Bata went to America to learn about mass production. He came back and established branches from India to Poland. After the second world war his son fled to Canada to escape the communists. He returned in 1989 and used late-20th-century know-how to expand in eastern Europe and open factories in China and India.

The upshot is that technology is spreading to emerging markets faster than it has ever done anywhere. The World Bank looked at how much time elapsed between the invention of something and its widespread adoption (defined as when 80% of countries that use a technology first report it; see chart 1). For 19th-century technologies the gap was long: 120 years for trains and open-hearth steel furnaces, 100 years for the telephone. For aviation and radio, invented in the early 20th century, the lag was 60 years. But for the PC and CAT scans the gap was around 20 years and for mobile phones just 16. In most countries, most technologies are available in some degree.

But the degree varies widely. In almost all industrialised countries, once a technology is adopted it goes on to achieve mass-market scale, reaching 25% of the market for that particular device. Usually it hits 50%. In the World Bank's (admittedly incomplete) database, there are 28 examples of a new technology reaching 5% of the market in a rich country; of those, 23 went on to achieve over 50%. In other words, if something gets a foothold in a rich country, it usually spreads widely.

In emerging markets this is not necessarily so. The bank has 67 examples of a technology reaching 5% of the market in developing countries—but only six went on to capture half the national market. Where it did catch on, it usually spread as quickly as in the West. But the more striking finding is that the spread was so rare. Developing countries have been good at getting access to technology—and much less good at putting it to widespread use.

As a result, technology use in developing countries is highly concentrated. Almost three-quarters of China's high-tech trade comes from just four regions on the coast. More than two-thirds of the stock of foreign investment in Russia in 2000 was in Moscow and its surroundings. Whereas half of India's city-dwellers have telephones, little more than one-twentieth of people in the countryside do.

Not only is there a technology gap between emerging economies and the West, and another within emerging economies: there are also surprising differences between apparently comparable emerging economies. For example, China imports and exports far more high-tech goods than India does and its exports are as technologically advanced as a country three times as rich. India and Bangladesh are neighbours with comparable levels of GDP per head. But electricity losses in India are about 30% of output; in Bangladesh, they are below 10%. And although Africa as a whole has low levels of mobile-phone use, in six countries (Botswana, Gabon, Mauritius, the Seychelles, Sierra Leone and South Africa) more than 30% of the population uses them.

The question is how much this unevenness matters. It is tempting to say, not much. What really counts, say techno-optimists, is that technology should get a toehold. Once it does, its grip will strengthen. So although only 6% of India's rural poor have phones, urban folk were at the same stage in 1998—and look what happened (see chart 2). Optimism about diffusion seems all the more plausible because of leapfrogging. Technologies such as mobile phones can be dropped into developing countries without the slog of building expensive infrastructure (such as land lines) and can circumvent the failings of old 19th- and 20th-technology. Poor countries will leapfrog into the next generation.

Fast or forget it

But this view—essentially, that technological diffusion is a problem that will take care of itself—may be too sanguine. The evidence from successful emerging markets is that if they absorb a new technology they usually do so fairly quickly. The corollary is that if a technology is not diffused promptly, it may at best be diffused only slowly and incompletely.

Judging by the World Bank's index, that is what seems to be happening in some places. As a general rule, technological achievement rises fastest in poor and middle-income countries and then levels off as these countries approach Western living standards (see chart 3). But now compare Latin America and Europe. Eastern Europe is following the path taken by America and western Europe a few years before. But in Latin America the slope flattens at lower levels than elsewhere.

The region has less installed bandwidth and fewer broadband subscribers than poorer East Asia, and not many more internet users or PCs. High-tech exports account for less than 7% of the total in Argentina and Colombia, against one-third in East Asia. In Chile and Brazil less than 2% of the business workforce is in ICT. This relative technophobia probably reflects years of inward-looking economic policies, import substitution and disappointing education systems. Here, slow technological dispersal may not be just the result of a time lag. It may be evidence of more fundamental problems.

Broadly, two sets of obstacles stand in the way of technological progress in emerging economies. The first is their technological inheritance. Most advances are based on the labours of previous generations: you need electricity to run computers and reliable communications for modern health care, for instance. So countries that failed to adopt old technologies are at a disadvantage when it comes to new ones. Mobile phones, which require no wires, are a prominent exception.

The adoption of older technologies varies widely among countries at apparently similar stages of development. Soviet central planners loved to build electricity lines everywhere; the result is that ex-communist countries enjoy near-universal access to electricity (an extremely rare example of a beneficial legacy from communism). Latin American countries had no such background and as a result consume only about half as much electricity per person as eastern Europe and central Asia.

This partly explains the patchiness in countries' technological achievements overall. Call centres in Kenya, for example, pay more than ten times as much per unit of bandwidth as do rivals in India, because India's fibre-optic cable system is far better and cheaper. So sometimes you cannot leapfrog. As countries get richer, older technology constraints do not always fall away. It depends in part on how governments organise basic infrastructure like transport and communications.

The other set of problems has to do with the intangible things that affect a country's capacity to absorb technology: education; R&D; financial systems; the quality of government. In general, developing countries' educational levels have soared in the past decade or so. Middle-income countries have achieved universal primary-school enrolment and poor countries have increased the number of children completing primary school dramatically. Even so, illiteracy still bedevils some middle-income countries and many poor ones.

A similar pattern can be seen with R&D. Emerging economies spend less on R&D than rich ones: rich countries spend 2.3% of GDP on R&D, East Asians 1.4%, and Latin America 0.6%. Also important, though, is who spends the money; and this also varies considerably. East Asia's pattern is similar to the West's: companies spend most of the money and do most of the research. In eastern Europe and Latin America, by contrast, the government is the largest source of finance, and in Latin America universities do the largest share of the work. Sometimes government-supported research is fine: it triggered South Korea's technology boom in the 1980s. But in general, companies tend to be the most efficient and effective promoters of technology (mobile phones are a case in point).

And in rich countries, high-tech-firms get money from banks, stockmarkets and venture capitalists in ways that emerging-market entrepreneurs can only dream of. Here, and in government policy towards technology firms—meaning everything from trade openness to product standards—there has been little catch-up with the West. In Kenya, flower-growing counts as a technology-improving activity because it requires fertilisers, irrigation, greenhouses and just-in-time delivery. The damage wrought by political chaos (see article) is a reminder that technology is far more fragile in poor countries than in the West.

Yet it would be wrong to be gloomy about the technological outlook of emerging economies. The channels of technology transfer have widened enormously over the past ten years. Technological literacy has risen, especially among the young. But all this has helped emerging economies mainly in the first stage: absorption. The second stage—diffusion—has so far proved much more testing.

Source: Economist.com

Golden Camel Awards Web-site. Part 1. Food and Markets

2008-02-06T16:03:00.000-08:00

Link: Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets

WordPress Is Now Available in Kazakh Language

2008-02-06T15:55:00.000-08:00

6 February, 2008

The free blog publishing software WordPress, which can be translated into any language in order to increase its accessibility, has been translated into Kazakh by Kazakh bloggers. The number of people blogging in Kazakh has grown significantly because there is a group on Google that explains how it works (http://groups.google.com/group/kazakh-bloggers?lnk=gschg). A blog platform created in 2003, WordPress facilitates the emergence of communities of bloggers using the same interface.

Source: Reporters Without Borders

Uzbekistan Was The Fastest Growing Mobile Market in Whole Eurasia in 2007

2008-02-06T15:46:00.000-08:00

In its "Mobile Freakonomics" article Createlf web-site mentions Uzbekistan as the fastest growing mobile market in Eastern Europe in 2007 with 130% year-on-year growth in the last quarter and Bhutan as the fastest growing in Asia reaching over 100% year-on-year growth in some quarters of the year.

Uzbek Regulator Allows Vimpelcom to Acquire Golden Telecom

2008-02-06T15:23:00.000-08:00

TASHKENT, Feb 01, 2008 (AsiaPulse via COMTEX)

The State Committee of Uzbekistan for Demonopolisation, Support of Competition and Entrepreneurship of the Republic of Uzbekistan has approved the acquisition of 100 per cent shares of Golden Telecom by the Russian VimpelCom.

Golden Telecom has a more than 54 per cent share in Buzton JV (Tashkent) one of the leading alternative communication operators in Uzbekistan. Other founders of Buzton are the national operator UzbekTelecom and the United State's NCI Projects International Inc. VimpelCom in turn has the second largest share in Unitel LLC, a mobile operator in Uzbekistan.

The Federal Anti-Monopoly Service (FAS) of Russia has allowed VimpelCom to sign the deal on the acquisition of Golden Telecom. On 14 January the agency approved the petition of its subsidiary, Lillian Acquisition, to acquire the Russian subdivisions of Golden Telecom.

For the deal to be completed, VimpelCom had to get the approvals of the state antimonopoly agencies of the countries where Golden Telecom operated. Two of them are the Central Asian nations of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The Antimonopoly Committee of Uzbekistan said VimpelCom submitted a request for the acquisition of Golden Telecom on 18 January 2008. The Uzbek regulatory agency was the first to respond: according to the legislation of Uzbekistan, the decision on the request had to be made within 10 working days from the day of submission.

VimpelCom plans to submit the same type of request to the authorised agency of Kazakhstan as soon as possible. The agency should receive the application within the next seven days. According to Kazakh regulations the authorised agency is allowed 30 days to produce a decision, but this period may be extended to 60 days, Golden Telecom said.

Apart from the two Central Asian countries, VimpelCom also submitted a request to the Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine on 17 January. The regulatory agency is allowed to prolong the time allowed for consideration of the request for as long as three months, to study the details of the deal.

On 18 January VimpelCom sent the shareholders of Golden Telecom an official offer to acquire 100 per cent of their shares at the price of US$105 for a share. The offer is valid until 15 February 2008. In order to complete the deal VimpelCom will have to collect 63.3 per cent of GT's shares. For this, it only needs to agree with the main shareholders of the Holding: Russian Altimo (26.6 per cent), Norwegian Telenor (18.3 per cent), RosTelecom (11 per cent), and Inure Company (8 per cent).

After the closure of the offer, the unsold shares of Golden Telecom will be converted into the right of acquisition for US$105 for a share and annulled.

The acquisition of Golden Telecom by VimpelCom (Beeline) will have no effect either on future acquisitions of the latter nor the size and the policy of its dividends. This was stressed by the Director General of VimpelCom Alexander Izosimov during a telephone conference. He said that the low level of his company's debt allows it to continue to make new acquisitions if needed.

Izosimov noted that the acquisition of the Golden telecom would allow VimpelCom to save about US$470 million within the next three years through the savings on capital investments and operational expenses. Moreover, as a result of the integration of the two companies VimpelCom's revenue is likely to grow not only through the inflow of new clients, but also through additional payments for new services which will be made available to the existing clients after the acquisition, he added.

According to Uralsib analysts, the results of the telephone conference with Izosimov turned out to be as expected, and consequently, the experts have not changed their opinion that the deal is unlikely to bring VimpelCom any income growth, RBK wrote. At the same time, the businesses of VimpelCom and Golden Telecom may become mutually complementary, as VimpelCom holds a strong position in the retail services market, and Golden Telecom in the corporate services market.

The VimpelCom Group includes mobile operators providing services in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, and Armenia. The licenses of the VimpelCom group of companies for the provision of GSM and 3G standard services cover the territory populated by some 250 million people. The Norwegian Telenor company has 29.9 per cent voting shares in VimpelCom and Altimo (formerly Alfa-Telecom) 44 per cent.

Golden Telecom is the supplier of integrated telecommunication and Internet services in the largest cities of Russia and the CIS, that have their own resources and communication facilities. The company's main shareholders are Alfa-Group (29.5 per cent) and Norway's Telenor (20.2 per cent).

(UzReport)

Source: TradingMarkets.com

Internet Speed Comparison in Central Asian Countries

2008-02-03T16:49:00.000-08:00

On SpeedTest.net you can find out the speed of Internet in almost any country:

Internet Speed in Kazakhstan
Internet Speed in Kyrgyzstan
Internet Speed in Uzbekistan

On the web-site you can also compare speed specifying city or country area/region you are interested in.

Internet speed comparison for Tajikistan and Turkmenistan is not available at the moment.

Kazakhstan PM Underlined Importance of Kazakh Content on the Internet

2008-02-03T16:47:00.000-08:00

ASTANA. January 28.

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov ordered to continue work on modernization of the state mass media and improvement of competitiveness of the domestic media market at today’s extended session of the Culture and Information Ministry’s collegium.
“It is strategically important to increase the Kazakh content in Internet network. It is crucial to use the potential of culture and information for formation of Kazakhstan’s image and confirmation its new role at the regional and international levels,” the Kazakh PM stressed.

Author: Aigul Tulekbayeva, KAZINFORM

Kazakh Prime-Minister Charged “Kazpost” JSC to Actively Implement an Internet Network

2008-02-03T16:38:00.000-08:00

ASTANA. January 31

Prime Minister of Kazakhstan Karim Massimov has charged "Kazakhstan Engineering" to activate its work.

According to the Kazakh PM, this company has a number of possibilities for widening its activity. In fact, President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev ordered to open new productions in Kazakhstan within the frame of large public purchases.

“Kazpost” JSC should actively implement an Internet network. A role of the post is growing all over the world.

“It is an ideal instrument of Internet development, including internet-trade,” the Kazakh PM uttered.

Mr. Massimov instructed KEGOC JSC (Kazakh Energy Grid Operating Company) and “Samruk-energo” JSC to provide energy supply of the southern regions.

“Kaztransmorflot” fails to stand up to business competition with other companies, working on the Caspian Sea.

“Air Astana” should renew its airpark as soon as possible.

In a whole, as reported earlier, “Samruk” State Assets Management Holding should provide transparency and accountability of its companies.

Author: Aigul Tulekbayeva, KAZINFORM

Tajikistan is almost in WTO

2008-01-30T14:23:00.000-08:00

Tajik officials and the working party, established by the WTO General Council on 18 July 2001, gave very optimistic statements regarding the accession of Tajikistan to WTO. Tajikistan submitted the membership application to WTO in May, 2001 and since then many meetings were held and millions were spent to make all necessary arrangements for smooth accession to WTO.

From January 21 to 25 of current year a WTO delegation paid (rus) a visit to Tajikistan to discuss the remaining issues. Mr. Clyde Kull, the head of the working party, pointed out that they together with Tajik G-men worked out a proper and transparent legislation that meets WTO requirements. Personally I often hear people say that our legislation de jure is one of the best in CIS but de facto is not always enforced as desired.

The members of the working party are quite significant countries such as USA, Canada, EU countries, Japan, Australia and China which are interested in conducting trade with Tajikistan. Very promising. So what are the advantages of being WTO member for Tajikistan? Membership will provide Tajikistan an opportunity to defend its interests along with other members on equal terms through discussions and negotiations on the collective basis. They say that flow of foreign goods into Tajikistan will have a good impact on Tajik private sector promoting fair competition and providing people with wide range of products. In this case, the demerit is that unprotected branches (for instance, field of services) of national economy will mostly lose their positions on the market and thus, most probably, face serious difficulties. Taking into account the fact that most of the fields could be referred as unprotected and unstable, I may assume that membership will give our economy hard time.

According to well-known Tajik economist Hojimahmad Umarov, Tajikistan will only win from membership. He believes that membership will improve the image of Tajikistan for foreign investors and make Tajikistan look more trustworthy. Nevertheless, in my opinion we have to consider all the side effects and thoroughly scrutinize the case of Kyrgyzstan, China, Viet Nam, Armenia, etc. to be able to tackle all the challenges that will certainly emerge once we become a member of WTO. It is hard to predict when exactly Tajikistan will be ready for accession but the process has started long ago and sooner or later Tajikistan will definitely become a member of WTO and join the rest of the crew.

Source: New Eurasia - Tajikistan

Central Asia in WTO:
Kazakhstan - observer
Kyrgyzstan - 20 December 1998
Tajikistan - observer
Turkmenistan - not present
Uzbekistan - observer

[Webstan]

New "Internet in Central Asia" iGoogle Gadget

2008-01-20T17:19:00.000-08:00

Now you can read the latest news and reports about Internet in Central Asia including topics about the Internet in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan on your personal Google homepage: www.igoogle.com or www.google.com/ig.

To read the latest blog posts please add our Webstan blog iGoogle gadget, just click this button:

Thank you very much and hope you will like it!

Economic Freedom 2008 - Kyrgyzstan is in Top 70

2008-01-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

The 14th annual Index of Economic Freedom prepared by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal was publicized on the 14th January. 162 countries took part and the economic freedom of each country was measured by 10 indicators such as free trade, business and investment opportunity, and private property.

Kyrgyzstan was the 70th in the list. It was ahead of its neighbors Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan. It showed even better results than Poland and Turkey. All countries and their ratings were shown on one map and one can see that Kyrgyzstan has taken place somewhere in the middle.

So, according to the Heritage Foundation, Kyrgyzstan’s freedom equals to 61,1%. Here is the percentage for each indicator: Business opportunity - 60.4%, Free trade - 81.4% , Fiscal freedom - 93.9%, Freedom from state- 76.1%, Monetary freedom- 75.6%, Investment freedom- 50%, Financial freedom - 50%, Private ownership - 30%.

This way Kyrgyzstan is in the top 70 of the most economically free countries. It did much better than last year and according to the researchers it is due to the improved investment climate of the country. Kyrgyzstan now is the 12th country member of 30 countries of Asia region and its scores are more than average.

Source: New Eurasia (Russian version) (English version)
Original report source: Heritage Foundation

Ratings:
1. Hong Kong
2. Singapore
3. Ireland
4. Australia
5. United States
6. New Zealand
7. Canada
8. Chile
9. Switzerland
10. United Kingdom
..................
70. Kyrgyzstan (Kyrgyz Republic)
..................
74. Turkey
75. Slovenia
76. Kazakhstan
..................
80. Greece
..................
83. Poland
..................
114. Tajikistan
..................
130. Uzbekistan
..................
152. Turkmenistan
..................

Full list: Index of Economic Freedom

Kyrgyzstan Profile: Economic Freedom 2008 - Kyrgyz Republic

Cybercrimes and Cyberterrorism Threat in Kazakhstan

2008-01-19T16:24:00.000-08:00

Source: Computer Crime Research Center

Introduction

As with many other new technologies in the past, the World Wide Web presents us with great opportunities for progress as well as potential for misuse. Here are only a few of the ones committed on the Internet: network attacks, credit card fraud, stealing money from bank accounts, corporate espionage, child pornography distribution. These crimes represent a significant social danger to Ukraine and other CIS Confederation of Independent States countries. Below I discuss three different countries and the ways in which they have managed their technology infrastructure and dealt with Internet crime.

1. The Republic of Moldova
In Moldova, the number of Internet users grows each day. Out of a total of 100,000 Internet users 20,000 are government officials.

In 2006-2007 all attempted computer attacks and infringement of information systems were successfully neutralized and did not cause any significant problems with normal operation of state information systems and web sites.

Maintaining the security of the telecommunication system, entails a number of technical measures and methods. These methods are employed by the Center of Special Telecommunications.
One of the main factors of reliable, stable and safe functioning of the state information structure is having a special, modern and protected environment. In 2005, the Center of Special Telecommunications began to develop a modern and protected telecommunication system for their government agencies. Today this system has more than 30km of information fiber-optic network systems that link more than 60 state agencies, including the Office of the President, the Parliament, the Ministries of Commerce and Economy, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Defense, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Information and Security Service, Border and Customs Offices, the Center for Fighting Economic Crimes and Corruption and other state offices. State agencies can already exchange information through high-speed, wide-band, encrypted channels.

The central information center of the telecommunication system of state agencies was upgraded. State agencies can use special services like high-speed and protected access to the Internet, protected data exchange, and e-mail services. There is a technical support office for all information services provided in all state agencies.
One of the top-priority tasks at present is to develop protected communication systems between state offices in the capital and regional state offices. Taking into account the proliferation of computer criminals, the Center of Special Telecommunications is focused on implementing high-tech solutions in the sphere of information security, including technologies of digital signatures.

The digital signature is one of the significant means to provide high level protection of e-documents. Introduction of digital signatures in the republic increased the use of e-documents in the communications of state authorities and public offices; this creates a fair basis for implementing the electronic exchange of documents, and increases the efficiency of document flow and administrative work.

In fact, only 12% of computer crimes in Moldova become the subject of the criminal prosecution. Georgiy Suprunov, sales director of the largest telecommunications company in Moldova, said at the international seminar “Control of Internet Use” held in Chisinau that computer crime is unfavourable for companies because computer crimes decrease their business rating.

2. Republic of Kazakhstan
Representatives of Kazakhstan, at a Euro-Asian forum on information security, stated that about 500,000 hacker attacks each month are attempted on their state information networks. Hackers regularly try to break into the databases of banks and companies to try to steal large sums of money and to try to obtain confidential information. The struggle against cyber crime is hampered because the government and these companies do not want to reveal information on these attacks. In addition, most hackers attack from abroad.

The global use of modern information technologies, by governments and financial institutions all over the world, makes the solution of information security problems a top priority. Besides the direct harm from possible intrusion into systems, information gained through cyber crime may become a serious means to human oppression. For this reason Kazakhstan, adopted state programs to maintain information security, maintain state secrets and other necessary means including the highest level of cooperation with the Committee of National Security.

It is important to note the need to balance maximum openness of access to information, as mandated by the Constitution of Kazakhstan, with the needs of national security.
The sphere of information security also demands rational investment of state financial resources in building modern information system and maintenance of the system’s security.

Under the Protocol on Cooperation in the area of fighting computer crimes of CIS countries, a computer crime unit was created within the Committee of National Security. The unit’s primary tasks are to find and prevent crimes related to information resources of state authorities.

It is essential to cooperate with European and Western countries in this area. Authorized state agencies are interested in ratifying the EU Convention on Cyber Crime adopted in 2001. This will further cooperation in this area of fighting computer crime and to will enable colleagues from all over the world to share their experiences in this arena.

3. Republic of Byelorussia
As it is well-known, a favorable environment for any crimes in general, and computer crimes in particular, may be explained by the conjunction of three factors: motivation, opportunity and the absence of capable counteraction. When all three are present, , there is impunity for criminals and the opportunity for repeated illegal actions in the area of computer information. Byelorussian law enforcement first encountered cases of computer crime in 1998. Subsequently, law enforcement agencies began to fight cyber criminals using traditional legal rules. However this approach was unsuccessful, as most computer crimes grew out of traditional ones in new ways.

The New Criminal Code of the Republic of Byelorussia enacted from 2001 contains a number of articles permitting prosecution for crimes against property (article 212 of the CC) and information security (articles 349-355 of the CC), committed using computer technologies. Among newly introduced crimes are the following six: Article 349, Unauthorized access to computer information; Article 350, Modification of computer information; Article 351, Computer sabotage; Article 352, Unauthorized capture of computer information; Article 353, Production or marketing of special means designed to obtain unauthorized access to computer systems or networks; Article 354, Development, use or spread of detrimental computer programs; Article 355, Violation of computer system or network operating rules.

Taking into account the reality of the potential threat of the misuse of information technologies, the Ministry of Internal Affairs gradually realized that a complex program of counteraction to these crimes was needed; this program was created in 2001. Special units were created in the ministry specifically to fight high-tech crimes. Today cyber crime problems are solved by the high-tech crime unit at the ministry and its regional departments.

The state program for implementing information technology infrastructure of the Republic of Belarus for 2003-2005, (forecasted to 2010), "Electronic Belarus" was developed to carry out the instructions of the President of Belarus from May 27, 2002, № 09/540-20 by a group of specialists from different organizations and organizations of the republic. This endeavour is under the control of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Belarus and is mandated to remove registered negative moments and factors. The program has inter-agency collaboration and is based on the basic regulations of the state policy in the area of information technology.

According to Vladislav Kaluqa, the Chief Executive of "Beltelekom" the number of Internet users in Byelorussia is over 2 million. According to statistical information from 2003, the number of Internet users in the country was more than 1 million. Every day thousands of Byelorussians connect to global networks .

Between 1998 and 2001 most cyber crimes were related to stealing goods in e-markets using stolen credit cards, these crimes were committed by single criminals. Now, crimes are more often related to hacking with the goal of stealing information; hacker attacks on the web resources of schools, universities, ISPs, mass media, companies and citizens, in order to obtain restricted information or to disrupt an organization’s normal operation.

Almost everywhere, repeated crimes committed with the use of computers and stolen credit card information, unauthorized access to computer information, alteration of computer information, computer sabotage, and the distribution of slander on public persons and officials, occurs on the Internet. Criminals actively use technologies to gain maximum profit from illegal financial operations.

An increase in Internet use and higher levels of education contributed to a rise in cyber crime in Belarus last year. Belarusian computer criminals caused about $400,000 in damages to computer criminals caused about $400,000 in damages to foreign institutions last year, mostly banks, cyber crime investigators reported. Hackers targeted only a few domestic banks. The country's High Technology Crimes Investigation Department started 429 legal proceedings against hackers and the FBI (U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations) visited the country twice to get information for its own investigations. As the number of Belarusians attending university rises, so does the number of cyber criminals. Officials at the Ministry of Internal Affairs estimate 80% of the 189 hackers known in the country are students. In 2006 almost 2000 crimes involving computers, software and the Internet occurred in the country and 175 criminal cases were prosecuted involving illegal actions in the area of information security; in 2005 the number of cases prosecuted was 178.

In August, last year, the Belarusian Internet community was stressed by a number of hacker attacks. Anonymous hackers altered hundreds of Belarusian web sites. The analysis of crimes committed in the “digital” sphere shows that the majority (55%) of illegal actions were related to computer crimes: criminal infringements in the sphere of computer information and thefts using computers.
Most computer crimes in Belarus are committed by persons aged 18-29 years, (60,7%), while 30 years and older represents about one third, (33,3%). Under-aged persons make up 6%. Viewed from another perspective: 11,9% were committed by students, 21,4% by unemployed individuals, 9,5% by women and 3,6% by prisoners (with some overlap among these classes).

According to the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs’ Public Relations Department, illegal access to computer information, illegal modification of computer information, computer sabotage and credit card theft and fraud are the most typical computer crimes in Belarus. In 2005 cooperation of Russian and Belarusian Ministries of Internal Affairs resulted in the uncovering of an international criminal network specializing in computer crimes. In June of 2005 Belarusian police uncovered an international criminal group that stole USD 112,000 from Citibank USA’s clients’ accounts during August through November 2003. In 2003, a criminal group specializing in the online dissemination of child pornography was uncovered in Minsk. The total profit of that group totalled USD 3 million. Currently, the Belarusian Ministry of Internal Affairs participates in the international special operation Innocent Images Task Force. A Ministry of Internal Affairs spokesman stressed that 60% of computer crimes are committed by people from 18 to 29 years old, and 8% committed by juvenile delinquents.

According to the official data of the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Belarus, trends of computer crimes in Belarus are significant. High-tech crimes in 2002 showed a 80,5% growth as compared to 2001, 924 such crimes occurred in 2002 and 512 crimes occurred in 2001.
The experience of counteracting computer crime in Belarus has raised a number of grave questions related to the investigation of computer crimes and the cooperation of law enforcement agencies of different countries. The high-tech crimes unit at the Interior Ministry of the Republic of Belarus, together with the National High Tech Crimes Unit of Great Britain held a joint operation “Fire wall” in 2004. The operation resulted in finding and arresting international criminal group members. These criminals produced, sold and used forged credit cards. The Interior Ministry of the Republic of Belarus emphasized the significance of combating computer crimes. There was a meeting at the Ministry dedicated to these issues in 2004. Counteracting cyber crime was flagged as a high priority issue, a program of actions including cooperation of all agencies was adopted.

4. Conclusion
The agreement on cooperation of CIS countries in fighting cyber crimes, adopted six years ago in Minsk, laid the basis for the strategy and tactics of law enforcement for these countries. This agreement also put in place a mechanism for cooperation to combat high tech crimes. However, these countries didn’t fulfill their obligations related to joint investigation measures and the creation of special information systems and cooperation in the field of training skilled police officers.

CIS countries are at a complicated and critical stage in solving those numerous problems related to the investigation of cyber crimes. Massive Distributed Denial of Service (DDOS) attacks, where hundreds of compromised BOTNET computers, and even networks from several countries, are used to attack web sites in other countries; computer worms causing damage to two-thirds of the countries of the world raise for us the fundamental questions related to localization and jurisdiction of these crimes and criminals.

Recently, a number of measures were taken in order to develop efficient methods of international collaboration in combating cyber crime at regional and international levels. These methods produced significant results. Cooperation is necessary in carrying out operations combating the wide range of problems related to computers crimes in order that these efforts will be successful. It is also necessary to develop partnerships between the CIS and all other interested parties.

To reiterate, only by cooperation among nations will it be possible to stop the growth of Internet crime.

Date: December 25, 2007
Author: Vladimir Golubev

Asia Broadband and Internet Market Reports 2007

2008-01-19T16:21:00.000-08:00

2007 Asia Broadband and Internet Market by Bharat Book Bureau contains over 460 pages of research and analysis on the Broadband and Internet markets in Asia. Consisting of 4 volumes this research covers 35 Asian countries, grouped by geographic regions (Central, North, South and South East) and includes -
· Internet infrastructure and development;
· Internet policies, models and concepts;
· Internet access - DSL, Cable, Wireless;
· Internet and broadband statistics;
· Internet censorship;
· Internet forecasts in selected countries;
· Internet Infrastructure and Developments;
· National Policies, Government Policies, Regulatory Regimes;
· Internet VPNs and VoIP;
· Network Operators, and ISPs.
· Network Players;
· xDSL, Cable Modem, FttH, Satellite;
· Wireless Broadband, WiMAX.

Executive Summary

2007 Asia Broadband and Internet Vertical Market
The 2007 Asia Broadband and Internet Market reports cover 35 countries in the Asia region. It takes an overall look at the various telecoms markets, together with a particular look at the Internet market segments.

Central Asia
While the countries of Central Asia have struggled with poor telecom infrastructure and underdeveloped regulatory, one segment of the market that has been most adversely affected has been the Internet. With none of these countries having Internet user penetrations higher than 10% at the end of 2006, the race is now on in each of the markets to build increased capacity to access the Internet. Turkmenistan and Tajikistan with Internet user penetrations of less than 1% by end-2006 are the lowest ranked by this measure and certainly have a huge task ahead of them. Right across the sub-region, Internet access has been predominantly provided as a dial-up service. The first signs of higher speed, broadband access services are evident in a number of the markets, but the total broadband subscriber base remains very tiny for the time being and therefore constitutes only a small proportion of the total Internet subscriber base in each country.
The rate of expansion of Internet services will no doubt increase on the back of the wider push to improve the overall telecoms capacity and infrastructure in each market. Although the pace is variable across the markets, there is certainly a consistent commitment to developing the national networks. Of course, it is not simply a matter of increased investment in infrastructure. There also needs to be a commitment with regard to regulatory reform. Interestingly, the Internet market has experienced some distinct challenges in Central Asia in this regard, as some of the governments have seen online access as a specific threat to national security and good order of their respective countries. The two lowly penetrated Internet markets, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan, have both been subjected to tight government restrictions and limitations on access, no doubt helping stunt the growth of online activity in both these countries. But they are not the only markets in Central Asia with laws aimed at Internet censorship. Kazakhstan and Georgia, for example, both have restrictive regulations in place that can be invoked as and when the government sees fit.

North Asia
In the rush to go online, North Asia is being led by a group of the most highly penetrated Internet markets in the world. With Asia the world’s leading regional Internet market in terms of subscribers, with the region North Asia is the outstanding driving Internet force. Not surprisingly, Internet growth in Asia continues to be dominated by the developed economies of North Asia - Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. This group has been joined by China, based on its sheer weight of numbers; it was claiming 137 million Internet users by end-2006, a penetration in excess of 10%. South Korea is the top ranked North Asia market in terms of user penetration with 71%; at the other end of the spectrum is Mongolia with 10% and just behind China in user penetration.
A focus on high-speed broadband Internet access in its various forms is also a feature of North Asia’s Internet growth. Again, following the example set by market leader South Korea, the emphasis has been on delivering faster broadband speeds to the customers.
In terms of broadband access, Asia is one region in the world where Fibre-to-the-Home (FttH) has started to emerge as a serious broadband platform. The technology has taken off in a big way in Japan. There were already 10 million FttH subscribers in Japan by mid-2007. Not unexpectedly, the movement towards fibre has been occurring in Asia’s more developed markets, where positive government intervention has been playing an important role.

South Asia
Generally speaking, the penetration of Internet across South Asia remains low. Broadband access is almost non-existent across much of the sub-region and there are no signs of an early major upturn. The more significant impact of Internet in South Asia is to be found in India and Pakistan, where Internet usage is creeping towards 10% penetration. But for most of the other markets going online has been a struggle. One interesting exception has been the Maldives; with its small population combined with a healthy tourist industry, Internet usage has been relatively substantial.

South East Asia
Of Asia’s estimated 450 million Internet users in early 2007, only about 65 million were to be found in South East Asia. In other words, South East Asia had around 14% of the Internet user population of the region at the time. Despite highly penetrated Internet markets to be found in Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia, South East Asian economies are more generally in the developing phase when it comes to Internet, with user penetrations typically at the lower end of the scale. At the lowest level we find Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, all with user penetrations of less than 1%.
In terms of broadband access, only Singapore rates as a highly penetrated market (65% of households by early 2007). Despite a flurry of activity in markets like Malaysia and Thailand, South Asia continues to lag well behind the more developed markets of the region in the application and penetration of broadband Internet access.

Source: Bharat Book Bureau

Kazakhstan Security Agency Says 125 Charged in 2007 with Secret Divulging

2008-01-19T16:16:00.000-08:00

Kazakhstan's National Security Committee said yesterday that 125 officials had been charged in the country in 2007 with divulging official secrets but that the state had improved its secret protection system, news agency Interfax reports.

National Security Committee spokesman Kenzhebulat Beknazarov, who cited the figure at a news conference in Astana, said official secrets were under securer protection today. "Modern information security technologies have been introduced, and measures to ensure the information security of the 'electronic government' have been implemented," Beknazarov said.

A facility has been set up where government agencies have their information security tested via simulated Internet attacks, and dozens of cipher keys have been developed in a bid to protect government communications networks, Interfax is quoting the spokesman. Eleven cities have been supplied with more efficient government communications equipment. More than 300 units to which access is limited have been inspected and potential channels of information leaks have been closed, Beknazarov said.

"Work has been launched to build a national system for the prevention of cyber crime," the spokesman said. In 2007, "16 attempts at the illegal sale of specialized technical equipment have been cut short, and more than 180 products of this kind have been seized," he said.

Central Asia Telecoms Market Reports 2007

2008-01-19T16:04:00.000-08:00

2007 Central Asia Telecoms Market Reports by Bharat Book Bureau, contains over 160 pages of research on Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Taijikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan. Consisting of 3 volumes the topics covered include: -

. National and International Infrastructure Issues;
. Fixed-line forecasts in selected countries;
. Telecom Investment and Revenue Statistics;
. Regulatory issues and government policies regarding infrastructure;
. Fixed-Line, VSAT, Wireless Local Loop Services;
· Brief overviews on all of the major telecommunications carriers and service providers in the region
. Internet access - DSL, Cable, Wireless
. Internet Infrastructure and Developments
. Internet and broadband statistics;
. Internet censorship;
. Internet forecasts in selected countries;
· Internet Infrastructure and Developments
· Network Operators and ISPs
· Internet Market, VPNs and VoIP
· Vision for a National Policy, Government Policies
· Network Operators, Wholesalers and Retailers, Utilities Projects
· xDSL, HFC, MDS, Satellite, Cable Modems, Cable Telephony
· Wireless Broadband
· Trends, Analysis, Players, Revenues, Subscribers, Prepaid
· Spectrum Auctions, Developments, Govt. Policies
· Infrastructure, GSM, CDMA, 3G
. Mobile Data Services - SMS, MMS, GPRS, EDGE, CDMA;
. Mobile Forecasts in Selected Countries;
. Mobile Operators;
. Mobile Satellite Services;
. Mobile Spectrum Licensing;
. Mobile Statistics and Trends - Subscribers, Operators, Revenues;
. Mobile Technologies - GSM, CDMA, 3G.

Executive Summary

This market report covers eight countries in the Central Asia sub-region. It takes an overall look at the various telecoms markets, together with a particular look at the telecom statistics which describe the market in each of the following countries: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The nations of Central Asia, following the winning of independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, were characteristically suffering from poor and inadequate infrastructure. Their respective telecom networks were in particularly bad condition at the time, in some cases on the verge of total collapse. The process of building and rebuilding crumbling telecom infrastructures has been a long and difficult one. Fixed-line penetration remains low across the sub-region, with no country having more than 20% fixed teledensity. More critically, a large proportion of these networks are yet to be fully converted to or replaced by digital equipment. Of course, the ability to address the need for infrastructure is closely linked to the economic prosperity of a country; whilst none of these countries is classed as a Least Developed Country, the majority have had major economic challenges to address.
The state of the fixed-line networks made it inevitable that mobile services would be seen by the governments and operators alike as the way to provide much needed communications and essentially offer a quick solution to ‘filling the gap’. It still took time for the momentum to develop, but over the last few years it has finally started to happen. Right across the sub-region, mobile markets have been booming; Kazakhstan, the most highly penetrated mobile market in Central Asia (49%), has been through a major growth surge and was continuing to grow at more than 30% per annum coming into 2007. At the other end of the scale is the lowly penetrated Tajikistan (5%), whose subscriber numbers have jumped sharply, growing by almost 150% in 2006.
One of the major challenges for these markets has been to introduce the much-needed regulatory reforms and to generally open the respective markets up to competition. Considerable progress has been made right across the sub-region on the regulatory reform front, although inevitably some countries are dong better than others. Kyrgyzstan, for example, was one the fastest of the CIS to liberalise its economy and was the first Central Asian Republic to join the WTO in 1998. Turkmenistan, while steadily rebuilding its economy, has prompted questions to be raised about governance matters. Tajikistan, which has also finally made some economic progress, suffers from the illegal drug trade and the resulting corruption within government.

Armenia
Armenia’s telecom sector has started to grow. There are over 600,000 fixed-line subscribers and more than 800,000 mobile subscribers for a population of almost 4 million people. The level of investment in infrastructure and new services has begun to increase. There are, however, major structural issues to be addressed in the sector. Amid growing dissatisfaction over the performance of the telecoms network, in November 2004 the government reached a compromise agreement with ArmenTel, the country’s national telecom provider, to end its exclusive rights to provide mobile, satellite, and mobile radio communications services in exchange for various other concessions, including the stipulation that only one alternative mobile operator would be allowed to operate in Armenia until 2009. ArmenTel was also allowed to retain sole rights to Internet telephony and the use of fibre optic cables. Previously, ArmenTel had been granted exclusive rights to the provision of all telecommunications services in Armenia until 2013 (apart from data services).

Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan is continuing to make steady progress in developing its telecom sector, but still faces numerous problems. Poor quality infrastructure has been a major ongoing problem. Only around half the telephone lines in the country are digital. The monopoly held by Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Communications, among other things, results in the high cost of satellite connections. As well as being a commercial operator through its role in AzTelecom, the ministry is both policy-maker and regulator for the telecoms sector in Azerbaijan. The country’s significant dependence on international funding has also made it difficult for any long-range planning in the development of the sector.
The good news: by 2006, GDP growth was running at an estimated 30%. A rapid increase in capital investment has been largely responsible for the country’s recent impressive growth record. Much of the capital investment has been from foreign sources and mainly directed towards major oil and gas field developments. Government-owned AzTelecom remains Azerbaijan’s main telecommunications service provider and operates under the umbrella of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT). A second operator, AzEuroTel, won a licence to provide international communication services in 1999. There are also four joint ventures offering telephone services, two mobile operators, and a number of ISPs operating in Azerbaijan. All these ventures have been established under the ministry.

Georgia
Although steadily improving, Georgia’s telecommunications infrastructure remains outmoded and inadequate as a result of gradual under-investment over decades. However, there has been an upward trend in the country’s telecom market over the past few years, with rising revenues and increased investment in infrastructure. Mobile communication systems have become increasingly important because the fixed-line facilities provided in many places (particularly in rural and remote areas) are outdated and a mobile phone represents the only effective means of communication.
In an interesting move, in April 2006, the Georgian National Communications Commission awarded a 3G mobile licence to Argotex, a local textiles company. Positive developments in Georgia that will help the expansion of its telecom infrastructure include the establishment of an independent regulator for the telecom sector and the ongoing privatisation of the two largest fixed-line operators, Sakartvelos Telekomi and Sakartvelos Elektrokavshiri. Competition has become the norm for all segments of the telecom market, including fixed-line services.

Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan’s telecoms market is growing on a wide front. The dynamic nature of the market will ensure the rapid introduction of new infrastructure and the upgrade of old equipment (Just over 70% of the national network was digital in 2006). Legislation adopted in 2004 started the liberalisation of the telecom sector and ended Kazakhtelecom’s monopoly. By April 2005, four companies had been licensed to provide international and long-distance services in competition with Kazakhtelecom and by the end of the year, over 1,000 licences had been issued for the provision of a range of telecom services.
Rapid development in the country’s mobile market has been a feature of the sector. Although Internet penetration remains low for the moment, there is increasing interest in going online. The scene is set for further growth in the telecoms sector. Economic activity had remained very strong in Kazakhstan, with 2006 marking the seventh consecutive year of real GDP growth in excess of 8%. With a GDP of more than US$70 billion in 2006 and a GDP per capita approaching US$5,000 (compared with Russia’s GDP per capita of US$6,800), it is not surprising to find significant growth in the country’s telecom sector. National operator, Kazakhtelecom has launched a program to modernise the country’s telecommunications system. The plan includes modernising the company’s rural telecommunications network using digital telephone exchanges. The company has also been installing satellite facilities in Kazakhstan’s rural and remote areas.

Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan, despite being one of the least developed countries in the region, has progressed further and faster than other CIS to liberalise its economy; it was in fact the first Central Asian Republic to join the WTO. While much has been done to modernise Kyrgyzstan’s telecom network, geographical conditions, a high incidence of poverty and a still developing legal and regulatory framework remain key obstacles to expanding telecom operations. The good news is that the telecom market has been opened to both foreign and domestic investors and an independent regulator has been established to oversee the sector. Full liberalisation of the market was set for end-2006. As a consequence of this, the sector has been attracting strong foreign investment interest as well as considerable economic and technical assistance of various types. Since the start of market reforms in 1991, the national operator Kyrgyztelecom has been expanding and upgrading its outdated and poorly distributed network.
In January 2006, the government approved a decision to put 77.8% of Kyrgyztelecom up for sale. The country’s second GSM network was also launched in April 2006. Much has been done in recent years to modernise the Kyrgyzstan’s telecom network. Telecommunication projects worth more than US$50 million have been implemented to develop the national infrastructure and upgrade systems. These projects have been financed with the help of US$27 million in loans from the World Bank and the EBRD. The national infrastructure program included creating a digital network, digital radio-relay stations and a fibre optic links.

Tajikistan
Of all the countries that emerged from the former Soviet Union, Tajikistan arguably had the least developed telecommunications network. With a network that was near total collapse at the time, the government has started the daunting task of bringing it up to modern standards. The network is tiny, providing service to a subscriber base that represents a fixed-line teledensity of less than 5% coming into 2007, and, significant proportion of the Tajikistan network has not yet been converted to digital. A gradual process of liberalisation is under way and over the last decade a significant number of private operators have been allowed to enter the telecom market, notably in the mobile and Internet sectors. Privatisation of state-owned fixed-line operator, Tajiktelecom was expected to be achieved by end-2007. The mobile sector experienced a major growth surge in 2006, the subscriber base jumping by almost 80%. Despite the healthy growth in the mobile sector, combined fixed-line and mobile teledensity was estimated at less than 15% in early 2007.

Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan is yet another of the nations that emerged from the former Soviet Union with an underdeveloped telecommunications sector. In fact, it is claimed that telecommunications services in Turkmenistan were the least developed of all the CIS countries. Poor growth in telecoms services, the slow progress in the development of the private sector and continuing state control over most economic activities have not been helpful in attempts to grow the country’s telecommunications market. Combined fixed-line and mobile teledensity was estimated at close to 13% by end-2006. Fixed-line growth has been virtually stagnant for almost a decade.

Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has been struggling to bring its telecom system up to the standard found in developed countries. Although steadily improving, some of the telecommunications infrastructure remains outmoded and inadequate. With slightly less than 2 million fixed line telephone services at the end of 2006 for a population of almost 27 million, the national network still has 35% of equipment yet to be replaced or converted to digital. Certainly, however, the situation has been steadily improving, due largely to the government’s decision to give priority to the telecom sector. In 1996, in what was a significant move, the government started inviting foreign telecom companies to invest in Uzbekistan in their own right. This was followed by the creation in 2000 of Uzbektelecom, a holding company charged with operating the national telecommunications network.

There has been an upward trend in the country’s telecom market over recent years, with rising revenues and increased investment in infrastructure. In January 2007, the country’s telecom regulator reported that investment in the telecommunications sector in Uzbekistan had risen 69% year on year to UZS179.6 billion (US$145 million) in 2006. It was also reported that foreign investment in the Uzbek telecom sector rose 39% year on year to US$133 million; telecom operators’ revenues rose 55.6% year on year in 2006 to UZS622.6 billion (US$500 million). The next step in the government’s strategic program is to privatise the incumbent operator Uzbektelecom and to open the market to competition consistent with the country’s aim to join the WTO.

Source: Bharat Book Research

Fiber-Optic Cable Line through Black Sea-Caucasus-Central Asia

2008-01-19T12:35:00.001-08:00

Baku. A project of high-speed fiber-optic cable line to run from the Black Sea basin to Central Asia through the Caucasus is being prepared on Azerbaijan’s initiative.

Ali Abbasov, the communication minister of Azerbaijan, said that an international conference will be arranged in Baku this March or April for this project debates.

“The meeting will cover opportunities of creation of an operating consortium and project cost. Azerbaijan comes forward a central country in the project. The cable line project will allow removal of information vacuum of the countries of Black Sea basin, Caucasus and Asia,” Abbasov said.

The project developed from the idea of laying a Trans-Caspian segment of TAE Project, interest to which was displayed by Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkey.

Source: Fineko/abc.az

International Telecoms Eye Central Asian Mobile Market

2008-01-19T12:16:00.000-08:00

International telecoms are eager to expand their presence in Central Asia, their hopes buoyed by low, but growing penetration rates and the absence of a quality fixed line infrastructure. Researchers, meanwhile, are finding that mobile phones are preferred over the Internet as a means for receiving information.

Global telecommunications companies are spurred on in Central Asia by the success of mobile phone penetration in Russia, where the latest figures indicate there are now 106 mobile phones for every 100 citizens. Telecoms research analysts now describe Central Asia as an "obvious opportunity."

An annual review by OFCOM, the British regulatory body, characterized China and Russia as powerhouses in the global telecoms sector, both in terms of money and also technological advances.

Some analysts believe Central Asia is poised to follow the Russian model of mobile phone development. "The mobile market in Central Asia is getting quite competitive, while the fixed market is still bugged by slow liberalization and the lack of modern infrastructure," said Bakhyt Weeks, an analyst with the telecoms advisory company, Pyramid Research.

"The situation in the fixed markets [in Central Asia] is quite similar to that in Russia, if not worse," Weeks continued. "The incumbents still control all of the local telephone markets; some competition exists in the long-distance and international [spheres]. The development of broadband is held back by the low fixed-line penetration and low digitalization. Additionally, the lack of competition due to the absence of the local loop unbundling (LLU), keeps the prices high, preventing better adoption."

This environment creates ample opportunity for mobile providers to expand their positions in Central Asia. Already, greater competition and cheaper services has resulted in an "explosion in mobile phone usage" said Weeks.

"Kazakhstan’s mobile penetration grew from around 42 percent to almost 69 percent in 2007. Uzbekistan’s penetration doubled from 10 percent to 20 percent in 2007. … This trend is set to continue in all of the markets. The entrance of MTS, Vimpelcom, and TeliaSonera in some of the markets will significantly boost competition, lower prices, and widen the range of services," she said.

Beth Kolko, a professor at the University of Washington’s Department of Technical Communication, is conducting a three-year survey of information and communication technologies in Central Asia. She said demand for mobile services had risen swiftly since they were introduced in the late 1990s.

"The growth throughout the region has been phenomenal both in terms of the number of subscribers and the number of providers," she said. "The mobile phone takes root pretty rapidly because of infrastructure issues. Where landlines are difficult to acquire or expensive, mobile phones find a very friendly audience. You can see that throughout Africa and Asia … and Central Asia is no different."

Kolko’s preliminary research in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan reveals distinctive usage patterns. The Internet remains too costly for most, and as a result, the mobile phone has taken on a unique role as information tool, she said. "What we see in usage is primarily voice and SMS. There’s not much mobile web, a little in Kazakhstan, but generally - even though the services are available in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan and the people I’ve interviewed know it’s available - it’s just too expensive, said Kolko.

The growth in Internet users appears to be leveling off, while the number of mobile phone subscribers continues to increase, according to Kolko’s early data. A possible explanation for the flat Internet numbers is connected with governmental desires to control the flow of information and maintain firm grip over the political spheres in the respective countries.

A recent survey issued by the political rights group Freedom House found Central Asian states to be among the world’s more repressive regimes. [For background see the Eurasia Insight archive]. Leaders in many Central Asia states, most notably in Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, have managed to establish a large measure of control over the Internet, mainly through the tight management of service providers. Officials have not managed to impose the same level of control over mobile phones. Explanations for the continued growth of mobile phone usage include the possibility that they are a lucrative source of income for ruling elites; that officials simply have not gotten around to focusing on the mobile market; or perhaps authorities have found the market is so large that new methods of control must be developed in order to harness the flow of information.

Kolko suggests another major factor at work is the relative user-friendliness of mobile phones over the Internet for the peoples of Central Asia. "Oftentimes people will group information and communication technologies into one bucket, but we are seeing a divergence of attitudes towards the Internet and towards mobile phones," Kolko said. "People are seeing mobile phones as much easier to use. They’ll describe the language barrier as similar for both the Internet and mobile phones, but they still perceive the mobile as easier to use."

People in Central Asia are using mobile phones not just for conversations, but to obtain information, Kolko found. "There are some very sophisticated information resources available in certain parts of Central Asia, and from certain providers where subscribers can access directory services et cetera via text messaging. These are things that people use with some frequency."

Kolko added Central Asia’s track record could only inspire confidence in the sector. "They don’t have the 3G bandwidth that you see in other countries, but if you look at the map of coverage across the countries, you can see that huge parts of the region are in fact served by mobiles in early 2008. That wasn’t the case in 2003 or 2004, but it is now."

Author: Deirdre Tynan, freelance journalist who specializes in Central Asian affairs.

Posted January 18, 2008 © http://www.eurasianet.org

Kazakhstan Participates in the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo

2008-01-16T15:25:00.000-08:00

This winter Kazakhstan will participate in the Internet Telephony Conference & Expo which will be held at the Miami Beach Convention
Center in Miami, Florida in January 23-25.

Last year (2007) just about a week before ITEXPO (Internet Telephony Expo) there were 64 countries represented. This year, also just 1 week away from Internet Telephony Expo there are 74 countries represented, which is about a 15.6% increase.

What is INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference & EXPO?

ITEXPO is the event with an educational program that teaches enterprises, SMBs, and Government Agencies how to select and deploy IP-based voice, video, fax, and unified communications. It's where service providers learn how to profitably roll out services their subscribers are clamoring for. The vibrant Exhibit Hall features solutions for enterprises, SMBs, government and service providers. ITEXPO is where buyers, sellers, resellers, and manufacturers meet to forge relationships and close deals.

Full list of countries-participants 2008:
Argentina Australia Bahamas Belgium Belize Bolivia Bosnia-Herzegovina Brazil Burundi Cameroon Canada Chile China Peoples Rep Colombia Costa Rica Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic Dubai Ecuador Egypt (Arab Rep of) El Salvador Finland France Germany Ghana Guadeloupe Guatemala Honduras Hungary India Iran Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Kazakhstan Liberia Malaysia Mexico Morocco Nepal Netherlands Nicaragua Nigeria Norway Pakistan Panama Peru Philippines Qatar Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saudi Arabia Sierra Leone Singapore Slovenia Spain Sri Lanka St Kitts-Nevis Sweden Switzerland Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom Uruguay USA Venezuela Yugoslavia Zimbabwe

As you see Kazakhstan is the first and only Central Asian country represented at the Conference & Expo.

Kazakh Government Will Insist on Faster Internet

2008-01-13T05:03:00.000-08:00

State Agency for Informatization and Communications plans to impose new requirements on the Kazakhstani Internet Service Providers. The requirements refer to the minimal speed for a broadband connection - not less than 256 Kbps. This condition, according to the agency, corresponds to the basic standards of the International Telecommunication Union.

“We will insist that the increased speed should not lead to the increased price”, the state agency underscored.

Will the domestic providers do so — reduce the price two times and lose additional income they receive now from the use of diverse tariff bars, which are formed on the basis of different speed of access? If the government is going to be persistent enough, then the ISPs will have to make a concession. But, in order to compensate their losses, they most likely will abandon unlimited tariff plans.

Source: neweurasia.net

Internet Expansion Is Among Turkmenistan Government Priorities for 2008

2008-01-13T04:46:00.000-08:00

Turkmen President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov summed up the results of the year 2007 and set new tasks for the government at the Cabinet of Ministers meeting on December 27.

"We are holding this meeting ahead of the New Year holiday, and we have every reason to celebrate it in a cheerful mood because we have done a lot indeed. There is much more work to do in the coming year of 2008. That is why we have to put it in our plan of work starting today," the head of state said.

The introduction of the principles of market economy in Turkmenistan, development of new oil and gas fields, adjusting the national legislature to the standards of the international law, expansion of the construction industry basis, creation of a wide network of transport communications, increasing exports of Turkmen products, intensification of the textile industry development and expansion of Internet network were named among the priority tasks.

According to Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, the further direction of social-economic reforms in Turkmensitan will be discussed at a big forum which is to take place during Galla Baryamy - grain holiday marked annually on the third Sunday of July.

Source: turkmenistan.ru

Best Kazakhstan Blog Award by Medianet

2008-01-13T03:56:00.000-08:00

The Almaty-based International Center for Journalism MediaNet together with the Soros Foundation in Kazakhstan has announced the results of best weblog contest. The competition brought together 30 applications from bloggers running their websites both in Kazakh and in Russian, both personally and in groups.

Results:

1. Blog by Adil Nurmakov ("Adam Kesher"), Almaty
http://adam-kesher.livejournal.com/
Judges' comments: "lively, always relevant and probably the most popular and interesting among Kazakhstan blogs".

Prize: 1000USD

2. Blog by Marat Shibutov, Almaty
http://megakhuimyak.livejournal.com/
Comments: "one of the pithiest blogs".

and Kazakh-language version of group blog Neweurasia
http://kz.kazakhstan.neweurasia.net/
Comments: "one of the most high-quality blogs in state language containing a lot of valuable and relevant information".

Prize: 300USD

3. Blog by Bakytnur Baitelula, South Korean university
http://bakytnur.wordpress.com/ (Science, techology, art and culture)

and Vitaly Mantrov, Shymkent http://mantrovkz.livejournal.com/
(Politics, economy, social life)

Judges notes about both blogs: "variety of topics", "relevancy" and "interesting style"

Prize: 200USD

Different researches mention that there are about 4000-7000 Kazakhstan blogs.

Original source in Russian language: Medianet.kz

Number of Internet Users in Turkmenistan to Grow

2008-01-13T03:21:00.000-08:00

ASHGABAT (turkmenistan.ru). A project on expanding the capacity of Internet network has started in Turkmenistan.

It is expected that the first phase of the project will be finished before December 2008. The winner of the international tender, Russian TechnoServ A/C company, will carry out all works related to the project. The total cost of the contract is US $1,6 million.

As a result of the project, the number of dial-up internet users in Turkmenistan will grow to 20 thousand and the number of broadband internet users to 1,1 thousand. 14 new servers in Ashgabat and 10 servers in the provinces of Turkmenistan will provide internet access.

As the Turkmenistan.ru's correspondent has learnt from the ministry of communication of Turkmenistan, the project also envisages enhancing the internet speed to 150 megabit a second. The project will be implemented by a winner of an international tender which is to be announced this month.

KODE5 Gaming Competition Comes to Uzbekistan

2008-01-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

Uzbekistan becomes the first Central Asian country to participate in KODE5 International Gaming Competition. Here is the news article from the official web-site:

(Tashkent, UZBEKISTAN) – January 8th, 2007 – The Global Gaming Revolution continues to expand as gamers around the world rise up one by one. Today, another nation joins our cause to spread the message of competitive gaming. KODE5, in association with GLOBUS Internet Club, is pleased to launch KODE5 Uzbekistan. From the largest Internet Café in the nation, Counter-Strike 1.6 and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne gamers will have the opportunity to compete for the right to represent Uzbekistan at the KODE5 Global Finals. With Global Supporters Cooler Master, GIGABYTE, and Corsair Memory, the KODE5 Global Gaming Revolution brings competitive gaming to the forefront with events in 16 countries across the globe.

Details for the KODE5 Uzbekistan event are as follows:

KODE5 Uzbekistan Regional Qualifier

DATES: January 27th ~ 28th, 2008

VENUE: GLOBUS Internet Club

LOCATION: Tashkent, Uzbekistan

GAMES: Counter-Strike 1.6, Warcraft III: TFT

LINK: http://www.esport.uz

For Uzbekistan’s first KODE5 event, GLOBUS is holding the qualifiers at their premier Internet café. Located in the heart of Tashkent, the capital city, GLOBUS Internet Club is the largest of its kind, with convenient access to subway, bus stations, hotels, shops and more. A spectator zone with both Russian and English commentary will be available for e-sports fans to witness the action.

To register for this exciting event, gamers have to first sign up for a free account on KODE5.com, and then register for KODE5 Uzbekistan at http://www.esport.uz or in person at the GLOBUS Internet Club.

"We are thrilled to be working with KODE5 this year," noted Shirkhodjaev "Greed_uz" Sergey, GLOBUS Project Manager. "The gaming community in Uzbekistan is growing quickly, and it's great to have the support of global tournaments like KODE5 to help bring Uzbekistan gaming to the world stage. We are excited to join the revolution!"

▲ GLOBUS Internet Club, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

▲ Tournament action will happen In the Game Zone

“KODE5 continues to pick up momentum with the launch of KODE5 Uzbekistan,” says Lester Lau, KODE5 Revolutionary-in-Command. “We are happy to be working with GLOBUS to bring an international-scale competitive gaming event to Uzbekistan and further promote competitive gaming in this area of the world.”

To celebrate the launch of KODE5 in Uzbekistan, Global Supporters Cooler Master, GIGABYTE, and Corsair Memory will be there to demonstrate their latest selection of killer gaming gear.

“Glad to see Uzbekistan join the global gaming community with KODE5,” commented Tony Liao, Director of Marketing at GIGABYTE. “We are proud to be able to help bring this year's KODE5 Revolution to Uzbekistan, and wish everyone here has the best gaming experience.

For details on how to register for this exciting event, check out KODE5’s official website: www.kode5.com.

Source: kode5.com

Uzbekistan is in Top 75 Countries in Facebook

2008-01-12T15:18:00.000-08:00

Uzbekistan is the only Central Asian country in Top 75 countries using Facebook and the number of Uzbek Facebook users is growing.

Population: 27 372 000 (source: Wikipedia)
Facebook users 08/12/2007: 1 766 (rank 71)
Facebook users 08/01/2008: 2 069 (rank 70)
Month difference: 17,16%
% of the population: 0,006%

More data: SEO & Web Marketing News. Canadian Blog

Internet "Black Holes" 2007 by Reporters Without Borders

2008-01-12T15:06:00.000-08:00

"Reporters Without Borders" published report about 15 countries with limited freedom of expression on the Internet on their point of view:
1. Belarus
2. Burma
3. China
4. Cuba
5. Iran
6. Libya
7. Maldives
8. Nepal
9. North Korea
10. Saudi Arabia
11. Syria
12. Tunisia
13. Turkmenistan
14. Uzbekistan
15. Vietnam

Here is the detailed description on Central Asian countries from the report:

Turkmenistan

With less than 1 per cent of the population online, this is one of the world’s least connected countries. President Separmurad Nyazov is a central Asian Kim Jong-Il, wielding total control over the media. Not only is the Turkmen Internet censored, it is also forbidden territory for the vast majority of the population.

Uzbekistan

Official censorship seems to have become even tougher since the bloody crackdown on the pro-democracy protests in Andidjan in May 2005. The iron-fisted government led by President Islam Karimov blocks access to most independent websites dealing with Uzbekistan, which are usually hosted on servers in Russia, and to NGO websites that criticise its human rights violations.

Connect Tajikistan Project Overview

2008-01-12T14:46:00.000-08:00

The Global Connections and Exchange Program for Central Asia has established 26 Internet Learning Centers (ILCs) in secondary schools across Tajikistan. The program’s main goal is to increase global dialogue and educational opportunities by installing modern computer equipment with Internet access in schools, as well as developing training and learning projects for teachers and students. Connect Tajikistan is funded by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the US Department of State.
The Global Connections and Exchange Program for Tajikistan activities include:

training educators on using computers and the Internet in classroom teaching

partnering with US schools on student-centered civic education projects and teacher exchanges

providing public access and programs for community members and disadvantaged groups

developing sustainable practices for schools and communities

OSCE Report: Governing the Internet in Kazakhstan

2008-01-12T13:43:00.000-08:00

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) published a report called "Governing the Internet - Freedom and Regulation in the OSCE Region".

Link: Download Governing the Internet Report

On pages 119-131 it has article by Rachid Nougmanov called "Internet Governance in Kazakhstan" which criticizes the governance and underlines the expensiveness of the Internet connection comparing to the salaries.

Link to article about it on Ars Technica website:
Internet Prices in Kazakhstan based on OSCE Report

Link to article about it on Ars Technica website:
Kazakhstan here we come

Best Governmental Websites in Kyrgyzstan 2007

2008-01-12T13:33:00.000-08:00

UNDP Democratic Governance Program has named the winners of the Best Website contest held among ministries and agencies, the press service of the UNDP reported.

14 ministries and agencies have participated in the contest. The jury was composed by representatives of state bodies, civil society and business sector. They evaluated weak and strong points of the websites, including their content, usefulness and usability.

The website of the Ministry of Justice www.minjust.kg (currently unavailable) awarded the first place. The website is easy-to-use and provides free access to the regulatory acts of Kyrgyzstan. The Ministry received $1000.

The website of the Ministry of Finance www.minfin.kg was honored with the second place and $700.

The third place was shared by the websites of the State Tax Committee www.sti.gov.kg and State Agency on Vocational Education www.kesip.in.kg. Both agencies received $400.

The awards will be used to purchase digital and computer equipment (photo cameras, scanners, voice recorders, etc.) to meet the winners needs.

Source: 24.kg

Huawei to deploy the Central Asia's first WiMAX commercial network

2007-12-27T09:03:00.000-08:00

By Anuradha Shukla
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Huawei Technologies has been selected by Babilon-T, a major telecommunication operator in Tajikistan, to deploy the Central Asia's first WiMAX commercial network. Rollout will begin immediately and is scheduled for launch during the first quarter of 2008.

Huawei’s end-to-end Mobile WiMAX network will cover the four major areas of Tajikistan, including its capital Dushanbe. The network includes distributed Base Station, Wireless Access Service Node-Gateway, Network Management Equipment and Terminals.

Tajikistan is experiencing burgeoning demand for broadband. Taking into account the mountainous terrain in Tajikistan, Babilon-T decided to adopt WiMAX technology to enable its subscribers to realize wireless broadband access. When completed, the network will enable Babilon-T’s subscribers to enjoy high-speed Internet access, watch mobile TV, use VoIP at home, in the company, or even on the street by using Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) or a PC card provided by Huawei.

Fayzullaev B, general director of Babilon-T is confident that by introducing mobile WiMAX technology, they will be able to provide their customers all over Tajikistan with broadband access to the Internet.

Wang Kexiang, president of Huawei CIS Region believes that this new technology will bring new market opportunities for Babilon-T.

“Huawei is delighted to be selected by Babilon for the launch of the first mobile WiMAX network in the country and the region and we are looking forward to further our partnership with Babilon-T in the future,” said Kexiang in a statement.

Source: TMCnet

Russian MTS plans to introduce broadband in Turkmenistan

2007-12-26T03:46:00.000-08:00

On December 18 in Ashgabat President Berdymukhammedov met with Russian Industry and Energy Minister Viktor Khristenko to discuss Caspian Pipeline and also with the CEO and president of the Russian Mobile TeleSystems (MTS) telecommunications company, Leonid Melamed, to discuss plans for the company's expansion into the Turkmen telecoms sector, according to Turkmen Television.

Leonid Melamed also briefed Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov on his company's plans to introduce high-speed, broadband Internet services to the country as part of its planned investment. Melamed also agreed to a Turkmen request to train an undetermined number of Turkmen specialists in Russia. RG

Source: Radio Free Europe

RELATED NEWS:

June 29, 2007

MTS to provide Turkmenistan with wireless Internet

The CEO of Mobile TeleSystems, Leonid Melamed, met with Turkmen President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhammedov, on June 29. During the talks, Melamed said his company plans to expand its presence in the Turkmen telecommunication market, Turkmenistan.ru reported.

Melamed offered MTS's services in the field of high information technologies, in particular wireless Internet. "Having expressed interest in the offer, Berdimuhammedov emphasised that Turkmenistan pins great hopes on the attraction of latest achievements of scientific-technical progress and world best experience in this field," the Turkmen State News Agency (TDH) reported.

Source: New Nations

Mobile Internet Prices in Kazakhstan

2007-12-24T12:04:00.000-08:00

1. PAThWORD (Altel, card)

Standard: CDMA2000 1x
All plans $0.10 per 1Mb (Internet and WAP)

2. Dalacom (Altel)

Standard: CDMA2000 1Х
Base Plan:
$0.25 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, day (09:00 - 21:00)
$0.13 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, night (21:00 - 09:00)
$0.17 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, day (09:00 - 21:00) over 50Mb limit
$0.08 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, night (21:00 - 09:00) over 50Mb limit

"Drive" Plan (only internet, no voice calls):
$0.10 per 1Mb Internet and WAP
$0.08 per 1Mb Internet and WAP over 150Mb limit

"Mobile Internet" Plan $25/MONTH:
$0.17 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, day (08:00 - 23:00)
$0.08 per 1Mb Internet and WAP, night (23:00 - 08:00)
$0.00 first 150Mb monthly (~$0.17 per 1Mb )

3. K'cell (GSM Kazakhstan)

Standard: GSM 900
All plans:
$1.03 per 1Mb WAP ($0.10 per 100Kb)
$0.25 per 1Mb GPRS, day (08:00 - 20:00)
$0.13 per 1Mb GPRS, holiday/weekend/night (22:00 - 08:00)
K'cell Connect Plan:
$0.00 50Mb monthly first 6 months (GPRS)

4. ActiV (GSM Kazakhstan, card)

Standard: GSM 900
$1.03 per 1Mb WAP ($0.10 per 100Kb)
$0.30 per 1Mb GPRS, day (08:00 - 20:00)
$0.20 per 1Mb GPRS, night (20:00 - 08:00)
considering that 1 unit = $0.01

5. Beeline

Standard: GSM 900
$1.02 per 1Mb ($0.01 per 10Kb) WAP + $0.08 daily for prepaid customers
$0.21 per 1Mb ($0.02 per 100Kb) GPRS + $0.08 daily for prepaid customers

6. NEO (Mobile Telecom Service)

Standard: GSM 900
$1.02 per 1Mb ($0.10 per 100Kb) WAP
$0.21 per 1Mb GPRS/EDGE

Currency rate used: $1 = 120 tenge
Up to date rate: xe.com
Date: 25/12/2007

E-shop overview - Svetofor.kg

2007-12-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

URL:http://www.svetofor.kg
Country: Kyrgyzstan

Products:
Mobile phones (GSM)
Radio phones
Pocket PCs
Smartphones
MP3 players
Digital cameras
Books

Payment methods:
Kyrgyzstan:
Kyrgyz Transfer

CIS countries:
Anelik
Bystraya Pochta(Быстрая Почта)
Leader MT
Unistream

International (e-money)
Western Union
Money Gram

International (credit/debit cards)
Visa
MasterCard

Additional services:
Bank credit

Contacts:
E-mail: mail@svetofor.kg
ICQ: 241572266
Phone:
+996 312 938833
+996 312 933388

Address:
Ap. 33, house 98a, Shopokova street,
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (map)

Mobile Internet Prices in Kyrgyzstan

2007-12-24T09:13:00.000-08:00

1. Fonex

Type: CDMA2000 1X
All plans $0.05 per 1Mb
Connection speed: 153Kbps

2. Nexi

Standard: CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
All plans $0.10 per 1Mb
Connection speed: 2.4Mbps (EV-DO) or 153Kbps (CDMA)

3. Megacom

Standard: GSM 900/1800
All plans:
$0.93 per 1Mb WAP, day (07:00 - 00:00)
$0.47 per 1Mb WAP, night (00:00 - 07:00)
$0,16 per 1Mb GPRS, day(07:00 - 00:00)
$0,08 per 1Mb GPRS, night(00:00 - 07:00)

Megacom Modem plan $5.00/MONTH:
$0.90 per 1Mb WAP, day (07:00 - 00:00)
$0.45 per 1Mb WAP, night (00:00 - 07:00)
$0.12 per 1Mb GPRS, day(07:00 - 00:00)
$0.06 per 1Mb GPRS, night(00:00 - 07:00)
$0.00 first 50Mb monthly (GPRS)

4. Bitel / Mobi

Standard: GSM 900/1800
$1.00 per 1Mb WAP
$0.18 per 1Mb GPRS, day (06:00 - 00:00) + $3.00/MONTH
$0.09 per 1Mb GPRS, night (00:00 - 06:00) + $3.00/MONTH

5. Katel/K+

Standard: TDMA
Standard cannot provide Internet services.

Kazakhstan National Internet Award 2007 Results

2007-12-05T13:15:00.000-08:00

Final results announced on 21/11/2007.
Official site: Award.kz 2007

Grand-prix
1. Sports.kz - Sport portal of Kazakhstan - www.sports.kz 7.92

Nominations by topics

Mass-Media
1. Kostanay area weekly "Nasha gazeta" ("our newspaper") - www.ng.kz 6.42
2. "Kolesa" ("Wheels") newspaper - www.kolesa.kz 6.27
3. PROFIT - Kazakhstan IT-market news - www.profit.kz 6.23

Education and Science
1. UNIVER.kz - Student Information Space of Kazakhstan - www.univer.kz 6.72
2. "Igrushka" ("Toy") - Craftsmanship Encyclopedia - www.igrushka.kz 6.33
3. KazNTU in the name of K. I. Satpaev Educational Portal - www.kazntu.kz 6.05

Culture and Art
1. Kino.kz - Kazakhstan trailer - www.kino.kz 7.41
2. KZMZ - Music portal - kzmz.region.kz 6.03
3. Linkin-Park.KZ - www.linkin-park.kz 5.83

Sport
1. Sports.kz - Sport portal of Kazakhstan - www.sports.kz 7.92
2. "Sary-Arka"("Сары-Арка") Ice-Hockey Club of Karaganda - www.hc-saryarka.kz 6.62
3. "Barys"("Барыс") Ice-Hockey Club of Astana - www.hc-barys.kz 6.60

Medicine and Health
1. Doctor.kz Medical Portal - www.doctor.kz 6.35
2. Детки.kz Children Health - www.detki.kz 6.17
3. "Mama plus"("Мама Плюс") Childbirth Preparation Center - www.mama.kz 5.72

Travel and Leisure
1. "Staut" Beer Bars Network - www.staut.kz 6.57
2. "Medeu"("Медеу") Mountain Skating Rink - www.medey.kz 6.33
3. "Butterfly" Travel Boutique - www.butterfly.kz 6.06

E-commerce
1. "Флора Экспресс" Flowers E-shop - www.floraexpress.kz 6.64
2. MP.kz - E-commerce Space - www.mp.kz 6.22
3. Souvenir.kz - Souvenirs E-shop - www.souvenir.kz 6.20

Internet Services
1. Crealog.kz Web Stats - www.crealog.kz 6.97
2. "Karaganda - my city"("Караганда - мой город") - Navigational Information System - www.mycity.kz 6.88
3. Sozdik.kz - Russian-Kazakh Online Dictionary - www.sozdik.kz 6.70

Corporate Web-sites
1. "Air Astana" Airlines - www.airastana.com 7.20
2. Halyk Bank Kazakhstan JSC - www.halykbank.kz 6.73
3. "Wheel"("Колесо") Commercial Group - www.koleco.kz 6.55

Industrial and regional portals
1. YK.KZ - Ust'-Kamenogorsk City Portal - www.yk.kz 6.92
2. Zakon.kz Kazakhstan Legal Portal - www.zakon.kz 6.58
3. "Издатель.KZ" Media Portal - www.izdatel.kz 6.56

Government Bodies
1. Buhar-Jyrauskiy district of Karaganda area Akimat - www.bukhar-zhirau.kz 6.52
2. Karaganda city Akimat - www.karaganda-akimat.kz 6.18
3. Karaganda area Ecology and Environment Preservation - www.karecology.kz 6.12

Public-service Organizations
1. Internews Kazakhstan - www.internews.kz 6.45
2. "Transparency Kazakhstan" Social Fund - www.transparencykazakhstan.org 6.43
3. "Sary-Arka Women" - www.saw.kz 5.68

Personal Pages
1. "Attila" Car Project - www.attila.com.kz 6.05
2. Vyacheslav Privalov Designer Portfolio - www.siteman.kz 6.04
3. Parkour.kz - Art of Rational Transference in Kazakhstan - www.parkour.kz 5.33

Information-Communication Technologies
1. SIEMENS Kazakhstan - www.siemens.kz 5.92
2. RISO (Deutschland) GmbH in Kazakhstan - www.riso.kz 5.83
3. LinuxISO Open Software Center - www.linuxiso.kz 5.52

Special Nominations

Best Web-site in Kazakh Language
1. Halyk Bank Kazakhstan JSC - www.halykbank.kz
2. "Massagan!" Portal - www.massagan.com
3. "Air Astana" Airlines - www.airastana.com

Best WAP-site
1. WAP.Lite.kz – http://wap.lite.kz
2. WAP.mobi.kz – http://wap.mobi.kz
3. WAP.java-games.kz – http://wap.java-games.kz

Best web-design
1. Souvenir.kz - Souvenirs E-shop - www.souvenir.kz

Best New Web-site 2007
1. "Air Astana" Airlines - www.airastana.com

Web-poll Winner
1. STREETLIFE Portal - www.streetlife.kz

SMS-poll Winner
1. RealChat – www.realchat.kz

Best Web-design Studio
1. "Creatida" Internet-company - www.creatida.kz

CNews expands to Kazakhstan market

2007-12-04T12:18:00.000-08:00

CNews has announced the opening of its editorial office in Kazakhstan and the launch of a corresponding Internet site at CNews.kz. This online publication has become Russia's first mass media source dedicated to hi-tech news in Central Asia.

The IT sector in the Republic of Kazakhstan has been viewed as one of the most promising and fastest growing in the CIS. This market has drawn a lot of interest from investors, IT vendors and systems integrators both inside the country and internationally. All major IT brands have already set up their representative offices in Kazakhstan. According to IDC forecasts, Kazakhstan's IT market will reach $773m in 2007, up 27% from a year earlier.

"We have taken a confident step beyond Russia's borders as promised," CNews Director Eduard Erkola said. "We have picked Kazakhstan as a foreign launch pad, as it is a nation set most firmly on the path towards the formation and development of high-technology. CNews has become the first Russian resource focusing on the Central Asian ICT market, and we are positive that with the energy of our Kazakh colleagues, we will be better suited to meet the requirements of the most demanding readers."

"Equipped with a powerful tool - the long-standing experience of the Russian editorial office - we will be able to hoist the publication to a strong position among Kazakhstan's business mass media," CNews Editor-in-Chief Maxim Kazak is assured. "ICT markets of neighboring states have also been showing healthy progress, and in the coming year we are set to establish stable information channels linking us to Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan."

CNews.ru has been operating on the Russian market since 2000. In December 2004, the CNews magazine appeared in a print format for the first time. In August 2006, a representative office was set up in St. Petersburg, and the English version of the CNews website was launched in December 2006. In November 2007, the monthly audience of CNews.ru reached 2.9 million unique users.

Source: CNews.ru

Kyrgyzstan Tourist/Business Visa Information

2007-11-28T05:44:00.000-08:00

[PART 1]
Citizens of the following countries do not require visa to Kyrgyzstan.

Eurasian Economic Community agreement (EurAsEC):
1. Armenia
2. Azerbaijan
3. Belarus
4. Georgia
5. Kazakhstan
6. Moldova
7. Russia
8. Tajikistan
9. Ukraine (up to 90 days)
10. Uzbekistan

Europe

1. Albania*
2. Bosnia and Herzegovina*
3. Bulgaria*
4. Croatia*
5. Czech Republic*
6. Macedonia*
7. Montenegro*
8. Poland*
9. Romania*
10. Serbia*
11. Slovakia*
12. Slovenia*
13. Turkey (up to 30 days)

Asia
1. Japan
2. Malaysia (with official and tourist purpose up to 30 days)
3. Mongolia (up to 90 days)
4. North Korea*
5. Vietnam*

Central America
1. Cuba

* - former USSR bilateral agreement

[PART 2]
In general, invitation letter from a registered tour operator is required to obtain the tourist entry Kyrgyzstan visa.

Citizens of the following countries may obtain Kyrgyz visas in the overseas missions and consular offices within the Republic on their personal request for the period up to one month, and are exempted from registration with the law enforcement agencies:

EUROPE:
Austria
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
France
Germany
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Italy
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Malta
Monaco
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
United Kingdom

OTHER:
Australia
Canada
Israel
New Zealand
South Korea
United States of America

World Economic Forum - Global Information Technology Report

2007-09-21T02:51:00.000-07:00

The following index by World Economic Forum shows the country readiness to participate and benefit from ICT developments. Three main companents of the scoring are:
- environment for ICT offered by a country or community
- readiness of the community's key stakeholders (individuals, business and governments)
- usage of ICT among these stakeholders.

The Network Readiness Index 2006-2007 rankings:

[rank].[country] [score]

1. Denmark 5.71
2. Sweden 5.66
3. Singapore 5.60
4. Finland 5.59
5. Switzerland 5.58
6. Netherlands 5.54
7. United States 5.54
................
70. Russian Federation 3.54
................
73. Kazakhstan 3.52
................
105. Kyrgyz Republic 2.90

Index is calculated for 122 countries only. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are not listed in 2006-2007 ranking.

Full list: http://www.weforum.org/pdf/gitr/rankings2007.pdf
Report description:
http://www.weforum.org/en/initiatives/gcp/Global%20Information%20Technology%20Report/index.htm

Google Maps in Central Asia

2007-09-21T02:41:00.001-07:00

News:

Major roads added for Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and many other countries.

Full article: Google Maps Covers 54 New Countries

Link: Google Maps

Uzbekistan at a Glance

2007-08-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

Area: 447,400 sq km (Spain 506K, Japan 378K)
Population: 26'600'000 [July 2005 est] (Canada 33M, Australia 21M)
Internet Penetration: 1,745,000 users / 6.6% [May/07 ITU]
Official language: Uzbek

Sources:
ITU
Wikipedia
Internet World Stats

Turkmenistan at a Glance

2007-08-07T14:11:00.000-07:00

Area: 488'100 sq km (Spain 506K, Sweden 450K)
Population: 5'110'000 [Dec 2006 est] (Finland 5.3M, Ireland 4.2M)
Internet Penetration: 48,300 users / 0.7% [April/07 ITU]
Official language: Turkmen

Sources:
ITU
Wikipedia
Internet World Stats

Tajikistan at a Glance

2007-08-07T14:01:00.000-07:00

Area: 143'100 sq km (UK 243K, Greece 132K)
Population: 6'740'000 [2006 est] (Switzerland 7.4M, Denmark 5.5M)
Internet Penetration: 19,500users / 0.3% [April/07 ITU]
Official language: Tajik

Sources:
ITU
Wikipedia
Internet World Stats

Kyrgyzstan at a Glance

2007-08-07T13:42:00.000-07:00

Area: 199'900 sq km (UK 243K, Greece 132K)
Population: 5'300'000 [2005 est] (Denmark 5.5M, Finland 5.3M)
Internet Penetration: 280,000 users / 5.2% [Sept/06 ITU]
Official languages: Kyrgyz, Russian
Aliases: Kyrgyz Republic, Kirgizia, Kyrghyzstan, Kyrghyz Republic, Kirghizia.

Sources:
ITU
Wikipedia
Internet World Stats

Kazakhstan at a Glance

2007-08-07T12:40:00.000-07:00

Area: 2'724'900 sq km (9th biggest, Argentina 2.8M Mexico 2.0M)
Population: 15'300'000 [2006 est] (Greece 11M, Netherlands 16M, Australia 21M)
Internet Penetration: 609,200 users / 4.2% [Aplil/07 ITU]
Official languages: Kazakh, Russian

Sources:
ITU
Wikipedia
Internet World Stats

Top Sites by Alexa.com

2007-08-06T16:05:00.000-07:00

Here you can find current updated information about most popular web-sites in Central Asian countries. (At the moment there are stats only for Kazakhstan.)

Most popular web-sites in Kazakhstan
Most popular web-sites in Kyrgyzstan (no info yet)
Most popular web-sites in Tajikistan (no info yet)
Most popular web-sites in Turkmenistan (no info yet)
Most popular web-sites in Uzbekistan (no info yet)

The lists refer to the most popular sites among users in the country, not sites hosted in the country.

How have Alexa calculated the traffic? Answer here!

Central Asian Top Level Domains

2007-08-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

For the starter, here are the TLD names of Central Asian countries:

Kazakhstan - .kz
Kyrgyzstan - .kg
Uzbekistan - .uz
Tajikistan - .tj
Turkmenistan - .tm