The Internet is an important factor in the development of economics, education, and culture in the modern world. This is especially true for the countries of Central Asia, which have a large territory and large population. This article is to show how things are going with mobile Internet in this region, in which country it is cheaper and in which it is expensive, and what is its average speed.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has the largest number of mobile Internet users in Central Asia. This happened due to the high population density, as more than 36mn people live in the Republic of Uzbekistan - this is the highest figure among all Central Asian countries. Back in 2021, the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of the Republic of Uzbekistan was tasked with increasing the speed of Internet channels by 1.8 times in 2022 and installing additional 1mn ports for broadband access. This made it possible to cover all populated areas with mobile communications and broadband Internet.
The cost for 1 gigabyte in the country is $0.30 - this is more expensive than in Kyrgyzstan but cheaper than in Kazakhstan.
Kyrgyzstan
In Kyrgyzstan, mobile Internet is considered the cheapest compared to other Central Asian countries. This is indicated in the report of the British portal Cable.co.uk.
The cost of a mobile connection in the Kyrgyz Republic starts from KGS 15.5 (or 17 cents) per gigabyte of data, which makes the country the eighth leader in Internet availability in the world and the best among neighboring countries in access to the World Wide Web.
As per Worlddata.info, the Internet in Kyrgyzstan appeared in 1996 and has been developing dynamically since then. Currently, there are several mobile operators and Internet providers operating in the country, such as Beeline, Megacom, O!, Elcat, and others.
Kazakhstan
The Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of Kazakhstan stated that they do not monitor the speed of the Internet in the country, but only recommend that providers comply with the minimum quality parameters, which are set as follows: 3G - 1 Mbit/s, 4G - 5 Mbit/s.
Notable, Kazakhstan differs from other countries in the region with its high Internet speed. The republic ranks 63rd in the SpeedtestGlobalIndex ranking.
At the same time, in terms of the cost of the Internet, Kazakhstan was on the 35th line of the world ranking. The average price for 1 gigabyte of mobile data in the country is $0.41. The cheapest offer on the communications market is $0.31, and the most expensive is $0.89.
Tajikistan
Tajikistan, meanwhile, ranks last in both speed and cost of mobile Internet. The price for 1 GB in this republic is $1.6 - this is one of the worst indicators among all Central Asian countries. Only Turkmenistan comes next with $11.4.
In 1Q2023, Internet speed in Tajikistan was increased to 100 Gb/s. This was reported by the deputy head of the Republic's Communications Service, Ilkhomjon Atoev.
In addition, work was carried out to increase the number of service centers for the purchase and sale of mobile SIM cards. In the first quarter, new devices were delivered, more than 42 base devices of a new type were installed and put into operation in Dushanbe, and more than 100 base stations were repaired.
Afghanistan
There are four private networks in Afghanistan - Afghan Wireless, Roshan, MTN, and Etisalat - and two public networks - Salam and Wasl. However, in the Northern provinces of Afghanistan, citizens complain about the state of Internet services. Residents of the area say that the speed of telecommunication networks is very low compared to the high price of internet packages.
As per the chart, the cost of mobile Internet in Afghanistan is indeed higher than average - $1.02 per gigabyte. Slow internet has become a serious problem for the country's people, especially for a number of Afghan girls who switched to online or distance learning after the Taliban closed the doors of girls' schools.
Turkmenistan
Mobile Internet in Turkmenistan is considered the most expensive among all Central Asian countries. Its cost is $11.4 per gigabyte. At the same time, the average speed, according to various sources, is around 0.50 megabytes per second, which is 448 times slower than in Luxembourg, the country with the fastest Internet.
The Internet in Turkmenistan appeared in 1997 under a contract with MCI Communications (later to become MCI WorldCom). Until 2004, the only mobile operator in the country was BCTI, which received a 10-year exclusive license to provide GSM services. In April 2015, the first Turkmen communications satellite, TurkmenSat 1, was launched, which should ensure the transmission of television, radio broadcasting and Internet signals throughout Europe, large parts of Asia and Africa. The satellite was built by the French company Thales Alenia Space and launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
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