$22,032 for net connection?

[Erki]

Most users (and only four percent of the country even has access) hook up through state-owned Kazakhtelecom, a company not concerned with competitive pricing for its services. An unlimited dial-up plan costs about €82 ($111) in a country where the average monthly wage is €292 ($399). As for DSL, an unlimited 1.5Mbps connection costs €2,458 ($3,355) a month, and doesn't even included the required ADSL modem. Want a 6Mbps cable connection? It'll cost you, to the tune of €16,144 ($22,032) a month. As the OSCE report drily notes, this is more than a thousand times the price of such a connection in Western Europe.

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20070727-the-internet-in-kazakhstan-welcome-to-the-land-of-3355-per-month-dsl.html

Any Kazakhs here too? :dozey:

[Drew]

Sweet jesus, is there anybody rich enough in Kazakhstan to afford that?!

[tinchote]

The report quoted by the linked article mentioned that there is public access in libraries and places like that. So, these prices look like the government trying to have control over who used the net; I would think that the purpose behind that is control.

[millencolin]

i find it ironic that as i type this, i see an ad just above the 'quick reply' box that states unlimited dial up internet access for $6.99 a month.

thats ridiculous though, what a stupid amount of money! Where's Borat when you need him, he'll sort it out :P

[Mark]

But at least they have a great cycling team.. oh.....