Telecommunications in Kyrgyzstan - Internet

Internet

In the early 2000s, Internet use has expanded rapidly. Between 1999 and 2005, the number of Internet subscribers increased from 3,000 to 263,000. In 2004 some 12,300 Internet hosts were in operation. The country code top level domain is .kg.

Variable upload/download speeds through xDSL are available through state telephone company Kyrgyz Telecom (up to 8 Mbit/s downlink) and private ISPs (up to 1 Mbit/s downlink). There is typically a monthly cap on the amount of data transferred, with separate caps depending on whether the data stays within Kyrgyzstan or travels beyond the border. Broadband internet access with unlimited international traffic is rarely offered by ISPs to the market at significantly higher price. This is probably due to the lack of country's telecommunications bandwidth capacity.

ISPs provide internet access through satellite backbone communication lines linked to Russia, Germany, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan. There is a major telecommunications project under construction - The Trans-Asia-Europe Fiber Optic Line, connecting Shanghai, China and Frankfurt, Germany, with the capacity of 622 Mbit/s, where Kyrgyzstan has completed its part. Completion of this project might affect broadband internet prices in Kyrgyzstan.

There are several ISPs that provide broadband internet access using different technologies such as xDSL, ISDN, Leased Line, Ethernet. ISPs in Kyrgyzstan include Kyrgyz Telecom, Elcat, Asiainfo, Transfer Ltd, Totel, Megaline, Aknet, Intranet, Saima Telecom, Rikonet, AlaTV, ExNET, and IPSWICH.