VEON CEO meets Kazakh president, eyes August satellite launch

VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON) Group CEO Kaan Terzioglu met with Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on July 2, following Terzioglu's participation in the 38th plenary session of the Foreign Investors Council in Astana.

At the council meeting, VEON reaffirmed its support for the Digital Qazaqstan Strategy and outlined progress on a Direct to Cell technology initiative developed in cooperation with Kazakhstan's Ministry of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Development. The hybrid solution combines terrestrial infrastructure with satellite technology and is intended to provide 100% national coverage, with availability to Kazakhstani citizens planned for August 2026.

"We remain focused on investing in Kazakhstan and building the infrastructure of the future, from telecommunications networks to computing power and AI-based digital services," Terzioglu said.

The visit follows a series of infrastructure investments by VEON and its subsidiary Beeline Kazakhstan. In December 2025, Beeline Kazakhstan began construction of a Tier III Hyper Cloud data center in Almaty, targeted to go live by the end of 2026. Beeline Kazakhstan also completed what it described as Central Asia's first field test of voice and SMS services over a Starlink Direct to Cell network, with a commercial messaging rollout planned for later in 2026.

Terzioglu also held a separate meeting with Zhaslan Madiyev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of AI and Digital Development of Kazakhstan.

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