Beeline Kazakhstan launches Starlink satellite-to-mobile service

Beeline Kazakhstan launched Starlink's satellite-to-mobile service on 29 September, becoming the first operator in the country to offer it, VEON said in a statement. The service lets customers use apps and messaging on their smartphones in areas without terrestrial mobile coverage.

According to the release, the service works on standard smartphones without a satellite phone, antenna or other special equipment, and Starlink satellites work with existing LTE phones where the sky is visible. Customers activate and manage it through Janymda, Beeline Kazakhstan's super app. "During the initial period, the service will be available to customers free to experience," the release says.

VEON said Beeline Kazakhstan serves 11.8 million mobile customers and around one million fixed internet customers. The release says Starlink has 650 launched satellites in low-Earth orbit delivering data, voice, video and messaging to devices in remote locations. It names emergency and rescue services, road and utility services, tourists, mountaineers, travellers and people working at remote sites as groups that could benefit.

What the government says

The government gave its own description a week later. In its summary of Deputy Prime Minister Zhaslan Madiyev's report to a 6 October session, it said that, together with Beeline and Starlink Mobile, Direct-to-Cell technology had been launched, providing text messaging and a basic level of internet anywhere in the country through direct satellite-to-smartphone connectivity. Android support is already provided, it said, while iOS support is in progress.

The two descriptions differ in emphasis. VEON speaks of access to apps and messaging in areas without terrestrial coverage, while the government describes text messaging and a basic level of internet nationwide. The VEON release does not give a price for after the free period, coverage figures or a count of activated users, and it does not name a regulator, although it credits the Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development as a collaborator.

The path to launch

Beeline Kazakhstan, the ministry and Starlink signed a memorandum of cooperation on satellite-to-mobile technology in November 2025, followed by the first practical trials in December, the VEON release says.

The ministry's relationship with Starlink dates back further. In June 2025 the Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry announced an agreement with Starlink under which the company would follow Kazakhstan's national law when providing satellite internet. The minister said at the time that Starlink had until then operated in the country in pilot mode, providing access only to schools.

In February 2026 Madiyev said Kazakhstan planned to route internet traffic to neighbouring countries through Starlink gateway stations on its territory, The Times of Central Asia reported. The outlet said Tajikistan could receive the service as early as 2026, with Mongolia and Kyrgyzstan possible later. Starlink's fixed service itself launched in Tajikistan on 5 February, the same outlet reported.

Terrestrial gaps the service would fill

The same 6 October report gave a picture of the terrestrial network that satellite-to-phone service sits alongside. The government said 370 villages have been connected and 11,819 km of communication lines laid this year against a plan of 1,600 villages. It said coverage along 40,000 km of regional and national highways is planned for 2027, with the installation of more than 500 antenna-mast structures, and that more than 4,000 5G base stations have been installed in over 20 cities.

VEON has rolled the same service out elsewhere. It launched it with Banglalink in Bangladesh on 9 October, calling Bangladesh the first South Asian country to offer it, and said customers there need a 4G phone and a Banglalink SIM, according to a separate release.

Three questions remain open from the published material:

• what the service will cost once the free initial period ends, which the VEON release does not state;
• when iOS support will arrive, which the government describes only as in progress;
• what coverage or speed users can expect, as neither the release nor the government's summary gives figures.