Getting online in Kazakhstan
A travel eSIM is a data plan you install before departure and switch on when you land, so your phone is online in Kazakhstan without roaming charges and without hunting for a SIM counter at arrivals. Your home number stays where it is — the eSIM sits alongside it.
Plans, prices, data amounts and validity are set by our partner and shown on their own page. We do not repeat them here because they change and we do not measure them.
Where you land in Kazakhstan
These are the airports in Kazakhstan with scheduled flights and an IATA code. The minute you step off one of them is the minute an eSIM stops being optional.
| Airport | Code | City |
|---|---|---|
| Aktau International Airport | SCO | Aktau |
| Aktobe International Airport | AKX | Aktobe |
| Almaty International Airport | ALA | Almaty |
| Nursultan Nazarbayev International Airport | NQZ | Astana |
| Oskemen International Airport | UKK | Ust-Kamenogorsk (Oskemen) |
| Pavlodar International Airport | PWQ | Pavlodar |
| Semei International Airport | PLX | Semey |
| Shymkent International Airport | CIT | Shymkent |
Where you will actually use the data
The largest towns and cities near those arrival airports, by population (GeoNames). Coverage is the partner's to state, not ours — this is simply where travellers in Kazakhstan tend to be.
- Almaty1 977 011 people
- Astana1 544 142 people
- Shymkent1 200 000 people
- Aktobe500 757 people
- Pavlodar329 002 people
- Ust-Kamenogorsk319 067 people
- Semey292 780 people
- Turkistan227 098 people
Before you buy
Two things worth checking on your own handset, because they decide whether any eSIM works at all: the phone must be eSIM capable, and it must be carrier unlocked. Most phones sold in the last few years are both; phones bought on a carrier contract often are not until the contract ends.
We do not test handsets and cannot tell you whether yours qualifies — your phone's settings screen and your carrier can.