In Kazakhstan the first telephone cards were magnetic, and were supplied by Alcatel in 1994. These were 4 cards with face values in US dollars: $ 5, $ 10, $ 20 and $ 50, issued by the company Satel, a joint venture between the Australian Telstra Corporation Limited and Kazakhtelecom. In 1997, economic and bureaucratic problems dissolved the joint venture and Telstra withdrew from investments in the country. Kazakhtelecom then installed a new telephone system based on chip technology, and began issuing cards in the same year.
