Talk by Oyuna Baldakova (King’s College London) on Digital Roads of Kazakhstan: Telecom Infrastructure and Local Agency

Cambridge Central Asia Forum invites you to a talk by 

Oyuna Baldakova (King’s College London)

on

Digital Roads of Kazakhstan: Telecom Infrastructure and Local Agency

Date: 17 May

Time: 11am

Venue: SG2, Alison Richard Building 

Zoom Registration: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZItcuygpzsjHdGAFqamlTdoaGwVKuIh8yaD

Abstract: Much of the discourse on US-China tech decoupling has centered on trade and geostrategic analysis, while often overlooking ground-level realities of countries in the Global South, their strategic digital choices, and the role of local telecom firms in making those decisions. In this article, we aim to fill this gap by exploring the factors that influence decision-making for digital infrastructure investments at the firm level and examining how local agency is manifested in digital infrastructure investment decisions. Drawing from primary sources, secondary literature, and eight months of fieldwork in Almaty and Astana conducted in 2022 and 2023, we focus on decision-making in network infrastructure building and identify three constraints that influence decision-making: market and network structure, rules and regulations, and procurement process. Within these constraints, we uncover pockets of local agency and contingency, highlighting the ability of different actors – from sales representatives to telecom companies’ management - to carve their own independent path in a field seemingly dominated by US and Chinese companies. We argue that in a digital world predominantly shaped by the competition between US and Chinese tech giants, Kazakhstan's unique digital ecosystem showcases the potential for countries in the Global South to craft their own trajectories.

Biography: Oyuna Baldakova is a Lead Researcher for Kazakhstan at the ERC-funded DIGISILK project at the Digital Humanities Department. She is also currently finishing her PhD degree at the Free University of Berlin, researching how China’s Belt and Road Initiative is being institutionalised in Beijing and implemented in Kazakhstan in light of local economic, political, and social realities. Oyuna completed her Master’s degree in Modern East Asian Studies at Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany. She has extensive experience in the field of international development, having interned at UNESCO Bangkok, managed an EU-funded project for Central Asia, and run communications at the International Organization of Folk Art (IOV).

Everyone is welcome.