We talk and show: why do fintech companies need media and telecom

Media and telecommunications have long been an integral part of modern human life. It is almost impossible to imagine reality without communication and information transfer, and many fintech companies today are trying to occupy this niche by integrating it into their ecosystems. In Russia, for example, all the Big Four operators have bank cards, and banks create their own mobile operators. The same trend is observed in the post-Soviet space. In Kazakhstan, for example, Timur Turlov's Freedom Holding is actively investing in the development of telecommunications infrastructure, the development of mass media and online platforms. See the Izvestia article about how the telecommunications industry, which is currently under active development, can become a new growth point for fintech companies in the coming years.

Concentration of resources

Timur Turlov has been building a financial holding company for more than 16 years. Turlov started with a brokerage business, which quickly became the largest in Kazakhstan. A few years ago, Freedom Bank, Freedom Insurance and Freedom Life insurance companies, and lifestyle services (Aviata, Arbuz.kz, Chockotravel and Ticketon) and the Freedom Pay payment system. All services for individuals were combined in the superapp Freedom SuperApp, which was launched last year.

In 2023, the holding was expanded with another direction, called Freedom Telecom. Explaining the reason for its appearance, Turlov cited disappointing statistics for the country as an example: Kazakhstan is at the end of the top hundred countries in terms of broadband Internet access speed (88th place in 2024, according to the Speedtest Global Index). Timur Turlov is confident that this situation opens up great opportunities for business and at the same time allows it to make a significant contribution to improving the quality of life of citizens.

The newly minted company began to develop broadband Internet access and open Wi-Fi networks in the country in major cities of Kazakhstan, building all the necessary infrastructure from scratch. Freedom Telecom is already laying fiber-optic lines across the country, installing base stations and building new and acquiring existing data processing centers (data centers). Last year, the company reached a number of agreements. So, in January, a deal was made with the telecom operator DITel for $ 1.1 million. In March, Freedom Telecom bought 7 data centers from Transtelecom for $100 million, and in September, the provider SilkNetCom LLP was acquired for $23.9 million.

According to Turlov, the total investment in Freedom Telecom could reach $2 billion. Part of this amount will be covered from the holding's net profit, which, by the way, exceeded $70 million in October-December 2024 alone. The main funds were raised by placing bonds and obtaining bank loans. Freedom has already placed two tranches of debt securities on the Astana International Stock Exchange (AIX) totaling $400 million with a yield of more than 10% per annum in dollars. The nominal value of the bonds is $1,000, and they are available to private investors with brokerage accounts in Kazakhstan.

In mid-April, Timur Turlov reported to President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev on the results of the holding's telecom business in Shymkent. According to him, over 10 years, more than $14 million has been invested in the local communications infrastructure.

— We have provided free Wi-Fi in 57 locations, and there will be 300 more this year. We have laid more than 800 km of cable lines, we serve about 300 organizations and we want to connect the villages adjacent to the city to broadband Internet," Timur Turlov wrote on his social networks.

New media

But telecom is not the only area that Freedom Finance is actively developing. Last year, Freedom Telecom launched a subsidiary called Freedom Media, which aims to compete with leading online cinemas and streaming platforms.

The newly launched media platform is designed to become a gathering point for any type of entertainment content, including TV shows, films, documentaries and other exclusive materials of various genres. In addition to streaming functions, the platform will provide opportunities for downloading video materials for subsequent offline viewing, Freedom Holding noted.

Investments in the project will amount to about $54 million over 5 years. Tens of thousands of films and TV series have already been presented on the Freedom Media service, including those translated into Kazakh, and live broadcasts of sporting events are being held.

In addition to creating his own content, Timur Turlov also invests in third-party media. So, at the beginning of the year, it became known that he had funded the creation of a new Oninvest resource dedicated to global stock market instruments. In addition, the businessman owns a license to publish local versions of the world-famous fashion and lifestyle magazine Tatler in Kazakhstan, Turkey, Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.

Timur Turlov was also the author of the creation of the Qalam information resource, which is positioned as "a new multimedia project dedicated to the history and culture of the world as seen from Kazakhstan and Central Asia." A team of experienced journalists, historians and local historians is working on it.

— Until last year, we worked in clear and familiar directions for us, entering new markets seemed like a risk. At the start, you don't know how your initiative will work, which team will come together for the project, which product will eventually turn out from all the available puzzles, how the market, customers and regulators will accept the new company in general," Timur Turlov told reporters at the end of 2024.

Today, it is clear that telecom and media projects will allow Freedom Holding to significantly increase its customer base, which already has about 5 million users, as well as supplement the ecosystem with missing services for everyday life.