Belarus ICT Week: 26 October – 1 November 2026

02/11/2026

Beltelecom reversed a planned tariff increase for phone and internet services just before it was due to take effect, while MTS expanded its 4G network and officials pledged a 30% boost to mobile internet capacity by the end of the year. Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin became the latest platform to cut off Belarusian users, continuing a wave of exits from the market. Belarusian hacktivists claimed a breach of Russia's statistics agency, and the National Bank reported a drop in cyber fraud losses. EPAM's Polish subsidiary, the largest Belarusian-linked business in Poland, reported higher revenue but lower profit for 2025.

IT Sector

EPAM Systems Poland, the largest company with Belarusian capital operating in Poland, reported 2025 revenue of 2.1 billion zlotys (about 488 million euro), up 8.4% year on year, Zerkalo reported on 26 October citing economic commentator Vadim Sekhovich. Net profit fell 22% to 70.8 million euro, leaving the company the top Belarusian-linked business in the Polish market.
Sources: Zerkalo, 26 Oct

A court in Latvia ordered IT company Squalio Group to pay 2.3 million euro over a bribe its former employee allegedly gave to a Belarusian official in 2015, Zerkalo reported on 27 October citing Latvian broadcaster Delfi. The case involves Sergei Sharkov, director of a Squalio subsidiary, who appeared in Belarus's "Vtyurin case". The ruling is being appealed for a second time.
Sources: Zerkalo, 27 Oct

Artificial Intelligence

Belarusfilm, the state film studio, is spending 225,000 rubles (about $76,500) to produce an hour-long animated film made entirely with artificial intelligence, Euroradio reported on 31 October citing a procurement notice. The tender requires the script, concepts, animation and voiceover to all be AI-generated. The working title is "Rescue Team", with the animation due to be ready by mid-2027.
Sources: Euroradio, 31 Oct

Crypto & Fintech

Cryptocurrency exchange KuCoin said on 29 October it would stop serving users from Belarus and Russia, citing the need to comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements, Zerkalo and UDF reported. The restriction took effect immediately across all products and services. KuCoin said affected users would be able to close trading positions and withdraw assets, without giving a deadline.
Sources: Zerkalo, 30 Oct · UDF, 30 Oct

Infrastructure

State telecom operator Beltelecom cancelled a tariff increase that had been announced for 1 November, the company said on its website, reported by Zerkalo and Nasha Niva. The planned hike, announced on 19 October, would have affected local telephony, long-distance calls, byfly internet access and service bundles for individuals and businesses. Beltelecom cited unspecified "technical reasons" and did not say when it might revisit the increase.
Sources: Zerkalo, 1 Nov · Nasha Niva, 31 Oct

Mobile operator MTS said it expanded and upgraded 4G base stations in 28 districts across all regions of Belarus in September, BELTA reported on 30 October. The work covered 41 base stations and modernization at 23 sites, focused on rural areas and small towns, including villages and agro-towns, to improve mobile internet coverage, call quality and VoLTE service.
Sources: BELTA, 30 Oct

Belarus plans to increase mobile internet network capacity by 30% by the end of 2026, First Deputy Communications Minister Pavel Tkach said on STV, Nasha Niva reported on 1 November. He said additional frequency bands freed from digital television, including through coordination with Russia, would be allocated to mobile operators. Tkach said one operator had already been fined over service quality.
Sources: Nasha Niva, 1 Nov

Cybersecurity

Belarus ranks among the leaders in the Eurasian Economic Union in countering cyber fraud, National Bank chairman Roman Golovchenko said, according to a report by Belvestnik on 30 October. He said the number of cyber fraud incidents involving theft of funds fell by nearly a third this year, while the volume of transactions blocked by banks at an early stage nearly doubled. Golovchenko said fraud schemes continue to evolve.
Sources: Belvestnik, 30 Oct

Belarusian and Russian security services shut down the Telegram platform Continental Service, which provided services to cybercriminals and other offenders, Reform.news reported on 29 October. The report did not specify further details of the operation or the scale of the platform's activity.
Sources: Reform.news, 29 Oct

The Belarusian hacker group Cyber Partisans, together with the pro-Ukrainian group Silent Crow, said they breached the IT infrastructure of Russia's federal statistics agency Rosstat, Svaboda and Reform.news reported on 1 November. The groups claimed access to the central office, regional divisions and the agency's main data processing centre, including virtualization and infrastructure management systems. Rosstat confirmed to RBC its website was unavailable.
Sources: Svaboda, 1 Nov · Reform.news, 1 Nov

Policy & Regulation

Applications for inclusion in the registries of factoring organizations and payment service providers can be filed through Belarus's unified e-services portal from 1 January 2027, under a resolution signed by Prime Minister Alexander Turchin, BELTA reported on 26 October. The decree amends an existing administrative procedures resolution to move the registration process online.
Sources: BELTA, 26 Oct

Belarus removed planned amendments to its laws on personal data protection and licensing from the 2026 legislative drafting plan, NEG reported on 30 October citing the National Personal Data Protection Center. The center said five years of practice applying the current law showed existing rules remained relevant and effective, with no provisions requiring urgent revision.
Sources: NEG, 30 Oct

Technology & R&D

Belarus will test the Russian satellite internet system Rassvet, a planned analog of Starlink, with commercial launch targeted for 2027, Euroradio reported on 27 October citing TASS. Trials will be run jointly by Russia's Bureau 1440 and Belarus's Beltelesat, with a series of local tests and connections planned before the end of 2026. Belarus backed the project in February.
Sources: Euroradio, 27 Oct

Figures & Surveys

Belarus's average nominal monthly wage in September 2026 was 3,099.3 rubles, Belstat data showed, reported by ONT on 26 October. Minsk recorded the highest average wage at 4,021 rubles and Mogilev region the lowest at 2,612.4 rubles. Workers in the information and communication sector earned the most of any sector, averaging 6,426.1 rubles, while education sector pay averaged 2,085 rubles.
Sources: ONT, 26 Oct

Themes

Belarus Brief