Photo courtesy of Digital Kazakhstan.

SES and the Kazakhstan Government will explore rolling out satellite-enabled, high-speed connectivity services using the O3b mPOWER communications system to accelerate the nation’s Digital Kazakhstan project under the terms of an MoU agreement announced April 18.

The MoU was issued by Kazakhstan’s Republican Center for Space Communications (RCSC), a subsidiary of the nation’s Ministry of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry.

Under the MoU, RCSC will explore utilizing SES’s next-generation O3b constellation scheduled to launch to Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) in the third quarter. The parties will also explore creating an in-country gateway for O3b mPOWER. SES has committed to knowledge transfer programs to advance the digital transformation process of enterprise and government sectors in Kazakhstan. SES has also established a local presence in Kazakhstan as of last year and will be making a direct in-country investment.

RCSC and SES also added that they will explore using O3b mPOWER broadband internet services for other Central Asian countries.

“An increase in channel throughput and high-quality requirements calls for an introduction of new services, and we cannot disregard the opportunities that new satellite technologies will deliver,” RCSC Chairman of the Board Malik Zhuiriktayev said in a statement.