Kazakhstan cites 72bn tenge KazSat revenue and plans six imaging satellites

Kazakhstan's government said its two KazSat communications satellites generated 72 billion tenge in revenue and that it plans six new Earth remote sensing satellites, according to its summary of a 6 October session on the national digital strategy.

The summary attaches no period to the revenue figure. The space passages formed part of a report by Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development.

The summary said the creation of KazSat-3R is planned by 2029 to replace current spacecraft. The government gave more detail on 23 July, when it said Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov had signed a resolution allocating 10.4 billion tenge from the government reserve to the project. The release said the planned service life of KazSat-3 ends in 2029 and that 19 telecom operators and more than 2 million television subscribers are connected to the system.

The Times of Central Asia, reporting the allocation, put it at about $22.3 million. Neither the July release nor the October summary names a manufacturer or gives a total project cost.

In remote sensing, the October summary said three satellites are operational, with the economic impact of space monitoring totalling 977 billion tenge over five years. Plans include six new satellites, three high-resolution and three medium-resolution, to improve imaging accuracy and coverage, and an international constellation of 14 satellites by 2030. The summary does not say how the 14 would be composed.

It also said three export projects worth $70 million are being implemented with Mongolia, Congo and Nigeria. In January, The Times of Central Asia quoted Madiyev as saying that expected export volume would be about $75 million and that at least five or six remote sensing satellites would be launched in the coming years. That report did not name the destination countries. Neither account explains how the $75 million and $70 million figures relate.

The October summary gives no launch dates, manufacturer, budget or contract terms for the new satellites or the export projects. It also does not say how the 977 billion tenge economic impact was calculated. The items to track are:

• the procurement route and manufacturer for KazSat-3R;
• the first launch date for the six planned remote sensing satellites;
• whether the government publishes the terms of the export projects.