Kazakhstan says half of 4,511 km West-East fibre route is laid

Kazakhstan has laid half of the 4,511 km "West-East" fibre-optic route and is targeting commissioning before the end of the year, according to the government's summary of a 6 October session on the national digital strategy. The figure was part of a report by Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development.

The summary describes the project as a hyper-highway cable. Its passage on the project does not name the contractor, set out the route or give a capacity figure. The Times of Central Asia, citing a ministry project description, reported on 13 October that the backbone is designed for at least 12 Tbps of transit traffic, with commissioning planned for the end of 2026. The same outlet put the length laid so far at more than 2,200 km, which is consistent with half of 4,511 km.

The summary also reports progress on rural connectivity, with 370 villages connected and 11,819 km of communication lines laid this year against a plan for the year of 1,600 villages.

Why the route matters

Kazakhstan's international traffic still depends heavily on Russian transit. The Caspian Policy Center estimates that about 95 per cent of Kazakhstan's outbound international internet traffic passes through Russia, according to The Times of Central Asia. For scale, the same outlet gave Kazakhstan's international internet capacity as about 11.1 Tbps in 2024 and reported that Kazakhtelecom's 2024 report lists 200 Gbps of Europe-Uzbekistan transit and 100 Gbps of Europe-Kyrgyzstan transit, in a separate article.

The West-East route was one of two projects reported together in February 2025. Silk Way TV said then that it would run along the China-Aktau route and carry internet traffic in transit as an alternative part of the network between Western Europe and Southeast Asia. Officials planned direct transit from Europe to China, it said, and Azamat Seriktayev, head of a department at the Telecommunications Committee, was quoted as saying that "Currently, most internet traffic from Europe bypasses the country."

The other project was the undersea section across the Caspian. In the 6 October summary the government said 390 km of cable had been laid along the Trans-Caspian line from Sumgayit to Aktau, with launch scheduled for October. The Times of Central Asia reported on 16 October that the presidents of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan announced the launch in Baku on 15 October, and noted that operators have not disclosed how much traffic the cable will carry or how much could be redirected away from Russian networks.

Who is building it

The 6 October summary does not say who is financing or building the West-East route. In February 2025, The Times of Central Asia reported that the digital ministry had signed a cooperation memorandum on 6 February with Freedom Telecom Holding, a subsidiary of Freedom Holding Corp., covering a fibre route and data centres for transiting and storing international traffic. The investment was to be private and completion was scheduled for 2026, according to that report. The article did not give a cost.

None of the reports reviewed gives a route by city or border crossing, and the February 2025 report did not give a length, capacity or cost for the line. Freedom Holding Corp separately announced a $2 billion Sovereign AI Hub in Kazakhstan on 7 November 2025, to be built on Nvidia infrastructure at a site with 100 MW of available power, according to its press release; the release does not mention Freedom Telecom.

What to watch

With half of 4,511 km laid, roughly 2,250 km remain, and the government's commissioning target falls about 12 weeks after the 6 October session. The items to track are:

• whether the government publishes a route, contractor and capacity statement for the line;
• whether commissioning happens before the end of the year, as the government states;
• how much transit traffic moves off Russian routes once both the West-East and Trans-Caspian sections are in service.