Networks
4G, 5G, fibre and core networks: builds, vendors, coverage.
Stories
Data
RIPEstat counts 897 routed networks in Türkiye, 224 in Kazakhstan
Of 2,085 registered networks in nine corridor states, 1,729 are routed, on a Corridor Signal calculation; Türkiye's share is lowest at 80.7 per cent.
Analysis
Kazakhstan's papers give three 2026 targets for village internet
Papers of October 2025, January 2026 and October 2026 give 3,000, 1.9 thousand and 1,600 villages for 2026, and do not say how the figures fit.
Data
Uztelecom has built 380 of 431 planned new base stations
Upgrades ran ahead of plan at 1,566 stations, but new sites reached 88 per cent of target, and half of the 375 5G stations are in Tashkent city.
Turkestan becomes the first Kazakh city to retire ADSL copper lines
The digital ministry says backbone fibre reaches 408 of 794 villages in the region, rising to 570 by the end of 2026 and 778 in 2027.
World Bank fibre subsidy reaches contract stage in 17 Turkestan villages
Kazakhstan's ministry says contracts are signed for 17 of 212 villages in the region, 26 are tendered, and five are due to be built and paid by December.
Brief
Turkcell field-tests 6G network sensing and extends its Samsung 5G phone deal to 2027
The operator says live C-band signals estimated crowd density with 90 per cent accuracy; the Samsung memorandum restates a 650,000-device target first set in March and adds a premium floor and a trade-in scheme.
Analysis
Türkiye reports 5G users, Kazakhstan sites, Armenia coverage
The first quarterly edition sets each market's latest 5G figures side by side; no two countries report the same measure, and Georgia publishes none.
Georgia's Open Net retenders $6.5m IP/MPLS equipment contract
Bids are due on 16 November for a contract first advertised in June 2025; a phase 4 fibre section went to a Georgian pair for GEL 16,924,630.
Explainer
Kazakhstan has drawn 0.33 per cent of its World Bank rural broadband loan
The DARE loan pays ISPs up to US$500,000 per sub-project; three grant rounds have been launched, and its dollar value has fallen to US$80.95 million.
Turkmenistan backs equipment for Altyn Asyr but names no supplier or cost
The 17 October decision specifies no technology or timetable and does not say whether it follows the operator's March tender for 4G and 5G base stations.
Uzbekistan reports 95.5 per cent highway and 98.1 per cent fibre coverage
Both figures fall just short of the 2026 targets of 96 and 98.2 per cent, while international capacity of 4,400 Gbit/s matches the 2025 figure.
Tajikistan proposes a Dushanbe call to action on landlocked connectivity
The ITU's draft outcome report puts CIS Partner2Connect pledges at $2.29 billion, with progress reported on 28 per cent, but does not list them.
Türkiye approves northern Cyprus fibre protocol for 150,000 premises
The protocol caps wholesale FTTH at $18 a month, sets 25 years of build and operation, and does not name the company Türkiye will authorise.
Analysis
Kyrgyz digital project beat fibre targets, missed private investment goal
The World Bank report counts 58,899 km of national fibre but US$2.01 million of qualifying private money, against an original target of US$60 million.
Uzbekistan counts 62.1 per cent computer use among people aged 10 and over
Programming, not networks, leads ICT value added, with telecoms at 28.9 per cent, and electronics output was 9.1 per cent higher in January to July.
Tajikistan hires UNICEF for $580,230 school connectivity study
The direct award is one of three Digital Foundations contracts published from September; its April report showed every results indicator at zero.
Georgia's ComCom finds one operator holds about 70 per cent of usable ducts
The preliminary findings, presented to Parliament on 22 September, say wholesale duct access rules are insufficient and more regulation is needed.
EBRD weighs up to €48.38 million for Tajikistan's fibre and rural broadband
The proposed sovereign loan would be implemented through the national operator, and the project summary lists 16 December 2026 as the approval date.
Georgia reports 575 km of state-backed fibre backbone complete and 1,050 km under way
ComCom's 22 September account of the World Bank co-financed Log-in Georgia programme lists 3,000 km of completed and ongoing works covering more than 420 settlements.
World Bank project hands Uzbekistan a rural broadband PPP design as office builds slip
The September status report marks the PPP design as delivered, rates progress moderately satisfactory and shows 12.2% of the $50m IDA credit disbursed.
BTK counts 44.5 million 5G subscribers in Türkiye, 26.1 million able to use it
The regulator's second-quarter report says device or SIM incompatibility explains the gap, and shows 4.5G subscriptions falling by 43 million as 5G was counted.
Georgia's regulator adds 5G and VoLTE tests to its mobile quality monitoring
ComCom told Parliament on 22 September that a Rohde & Schwarz system measures 5G, VoLTE and WhatsApp call quality while Silknet's coverage obligations run.
Kazakhstan has connected 370 of 1,600 villages planned for 2026, government data show
The rural connectivity programme had reached about 23% of its 2026 village target by early October, leaving about 1,230 villages for the rest of the year.
Explainer
Kazakhstan's 5G deadline passed with Kcell covering 53.5% of the population
The government set end-2025 to complete 5G. City targets appear met; Kcell's filings show population coverage of 53.54% then and 64.29% by June 2026.
