DIGISILK

During my fieldwork in Kazakhstan in 2022, I attended a panel on 5G development along the Silk Road at the Digital Bridge Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital. The session featured a representative from Huawei, along with a speaker from GSMA (a non-profit representing mobile network operators globally), government representatives, and executives from major Kazakhstani telecom companies. After the panel, I approached the Huawei speaker and asked how his company participated in China’s Digital Silk Road (DSR). He responded that Huawei focused on providing solutions to cell network vendors and was not concerned with politics. That response left me curious: what factors drive decision-making in telecom companies when they choose one supplier over another — such as Chinese Huawei or Swedish Ericsson. While much of the media and academic debates around U.S.-China tech decoupling and 5G focuses on high-level geopolitics, the role and agency of telecom firms themselves often go unnoticed. This curiosity led me to explore the sector in more depth, taking along Elisa Oreglia, and culminated in our recently published article, Beyond geopolitics: Agency and modularity in mobile communications in Kazakhstan.

A panel discussion on 5G development at the Digital Bridge Forum in Astana, Kazakhstan. Photo: Oyuna Baldakova/September-2022

Over the course of my fieldwork in Kazakhstan in 2022 and 2023, I attended telecom industry events and interviewed various stakeholders, from engineers to former ministry officials, who shared valuable insights into their work. One interviewee offered a particularly eye-opening explanation: a telecom network isn’t a monolith; it consists of distinct parts—such as core, metro, and access networks—that serve different functions and rely on different types of equipment. The core handles all transmitted data and manages essential operations like call authentication, billing, and data routing. The metro network connects the access network to the core, aggregating data from various access points, while the access network links end-user devices (your phones) to the carrier’s infrastructure. Typically, the core is built first, with metro and access networks expanding as subscribers grow. These network modules shape the procurement process, with factors such as technical compatibility, financial constraints, engineering skills, and market conditions determining which equipment is purchased and how the network gets configured.

Another common factor in the access network is vendor lock-in, where a company becomes dependent on a specific supplier. This often arises due to the high initial investment required to build the access network, particularly in Kazakhstan, where vast distances and low population density increase costs. Interviews revealed that telecom firms' initial vendor choices were frequently influenced by their ownership structures and financial backing. For instance, Kcell and Beeline (Kazakhstani mobile telecom operators) initially avoided Huawei equipment due to their shareholders' preferences: KCell’s Swedish TeliaSonera favoured Ericsson, while Beeline’s Russian Veon maintained ties with Nokia and later ZTE. These affiliations persisted, with Kcell and Beeline subsequently testing 5G equipment from Ericsson and Nokia, respectively. In contrast, Tele2’s network was built with Huawei equipment in 2007, supported by a Chinese ExIm Bank loan. After merging with Altel in 2016, Huawei became the main supplier for Tele2/Altel. Figure 1 illustrates the timeline of notable changes in ownership and network configurations of Kazakhstan’s mobile telecommunication firms from 1994 to 2024.

**Figure 1.** Mobile telecommunication firms’ ownership and network configurations changes. Created by Thais Lobo and the authors.

When it comes to Huawei, it is particularly efficient in its sales strategy, bypassing the traditional distribution chain, comprising of distributors and system integrators. Unlike Western companies that rely on intermediaries, Huawei has established a full subsidiary in Kazakhstan, enabling direct sales and expanding its local presence. While other manufacturers could adopt this model, it involves significant costs, staffing, and tax complexities, making it less common. The war in Ukraine has further advantaged Huawei by disrupting Western companies' financial solutions and logistics, as some relied on Russian hubs for distribution. These challenges have given Huawei a competitive edge in the region.

Yet within these constraints, we uncovered significant spaces for local agency. In telecom networks development, the most agency in vendor and equipment choices occurs during early stages, shaped by ownership ties, geopolitical factors, and even engineers' preferences. However, early decisions are not fixed, as shown by Huawei’s market entry in 2007 and innovations like 5G Open RAN, which allow interoperable components. The modular nature of infrastructure and organisational processes enables distributed decision-making among stakeholders—regulators, investors, firms, and technical personnel—each asserting influence over time. This complexity challenges deterministic views of vendor lock-in and geopolitical divides, showing how local agency and flexible configurations emerge within structural constraints. Decisions about hardware, software, and financing often reflect not just external pressures but also internal priorities, technical setup and expertise.

Kazakhstan’s unique digital ecosystem, shaped by historical legacies, modular infrastructure, and a strategic balancing of suppliers, highlights how developing countries can navigate and sometimes resist binary geopolitical alignments. The country’s telecom firms are not merely passive recipients of global trends; they actively negotiate between long-term goals and immediate challenges, creating distinct pathways in a world increasingly polarised between U.S. and Chinese technology.

If you’re curious about how these dynamics play out or want to understand the nuanced interplay of agency, modularity, and geopolitics in telecommunications, I invite you to explore the full article here.

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