Russian telecom giant MegaFon enters Kyrgyz Market with digital projects

Russian telecommunications company MegaFon has registered a representative office in Kyrgyzstan and will begin work in the capital city of Bishkek in October. The company will focus on implementing digital projects for businesses and society, Turanews.kz reports.

The representative office will be headed by MegaFon’s director for national projects, Alexander Kaloshin. By the end of the year, MegaFon expects to implement a number of pilot projects in Kyrgyzstan in various areas, including improvement of the urban environment, transport safety, and digitalization of production processes.

One of the company’s projects is the launch of the MegaFon Ecology platform, which allows for the collection, analysis, and transmission of data on the state of the environment in real time. To implement the project, the developments of those enterprises or cities that are connected to the environmental monitoring system are used.

MegaFon does not plan to create a separate radio network in Kyrgyzstan. Instead, it will implement projects on the networks of local mobile or fixed-line operators or expand communication channels where necessary.

The company is currently in talks with Kyrgyztelecom, the national telecommunications operator of Kyrgyzstan. MegaFon has not disclosed the amount of its investment in Kyrgyzstan or the results it expects from entering the new market.

MegaFon previously tried to enter the Kyrgyz market in 2008, but no agreements were reached.

Analysts say that MegaFon’s focus on the b2b segment in Kyrgyzstan means that its investments will be tied to specific projects and its success will depend on the interest in those projects from local enterprises.