Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry Askhat Orazbek explained what will happen to the Internet in Kazakhstan if it is blocked in Russia. He is quoted by Informburo.

"We have connections with international communication systems through Russia, China and other countries. That is, theoretically, if the Internet is completely blocked in the Russian Federation, we will have other outlets to the global network. In addition, Kazakhtelecom is working together with AzerTelecom on the construction of a trans-Caspian cable. We will have another additional channel for transit. We are starting this work this year, we will complete it this year, and most likely, the route itself will be launched in 2026," Orazbek said on the sidelines of the Senate.

According to him, there are many reasons for the instability of the Internet. But the main communication channels do not create problems. Most often, problems are observed at the level of the local operator that provides services at home or in the office.

The Vice Minister was asked to explain the recent disruptions in social networks and in the work of eGov.

"In fact, two events overlapped. The problem was not in the operators' communication networks, but in the services of the Meta company. As for the availability of government services, it was a failure in the infrastructure of the national operator NIT. There is no ideal infrastructure anywhere. Meta is one of the largest companies in the world, but it also has failures. We have them too, but not often," Orazbek explained.

He recalled that the last major failure in Kazakhstan occurred in 2023.

What else is known

In 2019, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan already announced the start of laying a fiber-optic communication line (FOCL) along the bottom of the Caspian Sea. The ceremony in Aktau was held by then Prime Minister Askar Mamin. But AzerTelecom announced the start of the FOCL project back in April 2019, that is, six months before the ceremony. Negotiations between Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan on laying a FOCL along the bottom of the Caspian Sea took a long time. The Azerbaijani side considered it possible to begin construction work back in 2006.

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