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Analysts and content providers argue that development of text messaging and other non-voice mobile services is slowed down by the low levels of internet development in the country. iKS-Consulting estimates that by end of 2007 market for additional services in Kazakhstan mobile phone sector reached $120 mln., which is 8,5% of all profits in this sector. In comparison to Russia and Europe these estimates are low and this indicates that Kz mobile sector is yet at early development stage. SMS leads the structure of VAS services in KZ (VAS include non-voice advanced messaging services). Other services include: call-forwarding, conference connection, call-wait, balance forward, CRBT, internet access (EDGE), mobile data transfer (GPRS), MMS, access to mobiule content through SMS, MMS, IVR, USSD. One of the obstacles for greater use of the mentioned services is the low technical knowledge of the users, and low level of Internet use in country overall. If the users of SMS in the country account for a little more than 50%, Internet users through mobile phone are 5%. Other factors include the level of awareness of the variety of services. At the same time providers claim that the tariffs for Internet are reducing and more users are buying the new cell phones that allow utilizing more services. Source: CNews, 25.02.08 Link to article in Russian: http://cnews.kz/news/top/index.shtml?2008/02/25/104300

Russian government seeks to adopt a law that proposes equating Internet sites with mass media depending on the frequency of visits. Sites with an audience of more than 1,000 people will thus fall under compulsory registration. Vladimir Slutsker, deputy chairman of the Joint Commission for Nationalities Policy and the State's Relations With Religious Associations at the Federation Council said that the law is needed to increase responsibility for the information being posted. As a result, the article argues, a number of information resources in the internet may decrease. Slutsker says that this reduction will affect resources, which post data known to be incorrect, all sorts of pornography and libel. The article discusses how the popular blogs, such as LiveJournal - Russia's most popular blogging platform, might also get affected by the law. However, the owner of a popular blog told the newspaper that if the legislative innovation is viewed as an attempt to impose censorship on the entire Russian section of the Internet, then it is doomed to fail. After all, it is a five-minute job to transfer any 'problem' site to a host that is physically located in another country. Comment: This article concerns government control policies in the Internet, and has implications for readers of Russian language sources on the Internet, including many Central Asians. Moreover, it might serve as an example of the possible policy decisions for Central Asian governments. Thanks to Erica for article! Source: BBC Monitoring Former Soviet Union. Text of report by popular Russian newspaper Moskovskiy Komsomolets on 02/12/2008.