Communications in Turkmenistan
Encyclopedia
Turkmenistan
has a state-controlled press and monitored communication systems. With the death of Saparmurat Niyazov
on December 21, 2006, the situation may change, possibly opening for the expansion of free press and open communications within the nation.
Mobile phones sector started to improve rapidly after the expiration of company's exclusive license in 2004. Russian mobile phone operator MTS
acquired BCTI and state owned communication company TurkmenTelekom opened new subsidiary, Altyn Asyr GSM. Number of mobile phone subscribers reached over 1,000,000. (MTS - 800,000 and
Altyn Asyr GSM 450,000 (estimate)
in 1997 through a contract with MCI Communications
(later became MCI WorldCom). A small number of independent Internet Service Providers were forced out of business in 2001 when TurkmenTelecom was granted a monopoly over data services. Dependence on expensive satellite channels limited the availability of Internet to only two thousand subscribers. To upgrade the Internet backbone, Ministry of Communication signed a contract with TATA Communications
for routing traffic through Transit-Asia-Europe fiber optic channel. As a result of this development, TurkmenTelecom started offering an access to the higher speed Internet with ADSL to the consumers in Ashgabat.
In 2008, MTS started offering Internet service to mobile subscribers via GPRS. Altyn Asyr was first to lunch 3G
and 2 mpbs mobile internet service in March 2010. Move surprised mobile customers as the provider was known for inferior but cheaper service.
Country code
(Top level domain): TM
List of broadcast stations:
All 5 of national channels are aired on Yamal satellitle for international audience.
s - main lines in use:
500,000 (2006)
domestic:
500 automatic telephone stations and 500,000 telephone numbers.
international:
linked by cable
and microwave
radio
relay to other Commonwealth of Independent States
republics and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow
international gateway switch; a new telephone link from Ashgabat to Iran
has been established; a new exchange in Ashgabat switches international traffic through Turkey
via Intelsat; satellite
earth
stations - 1 Orbita
and 1 Intelsat
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan , formerly also known as Turkmenia is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic . Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states...
has a state-controlled press and monitored communication systems. With the death of Saparmurat Niyazov
Saparmurat Niyazov
Saparmurat Atayevich Niyazov; , was a Turkmen politician who served as President of Turkmenistan from 2 November 1990 until his death in 2006...
on December 21, 2006, the situation may change, possibly opening for the expansion of free press and open communications within the nation.
Mobile
BCTI was only GSM operator in country with 10-year exclusive license granted in 1994. Due to lack of competition, BCTI continued to operate without investing much to cover rural areas. Expensive cost of service limited the number of subscribers to very small percentage of general population.Mobile phones sector started to improve rapidly after the expiration of company's exclusive license in 2004. Russian mobile phone operator MTS
Mobile TeleSystems
MTS is the largest mobile operator in Russia and CIS with over 102,4 million subscribers as of 31 December 2009.Having started in the Moscow license zone in 1994, МТS in 1997 received licenses for further areas and began expansion, later entering other countries of the CIS...
acquired BCTI and state owned communication company TurkmenTelekom opened new subsidiary, Altyn Asyr GSM. Number of mobile phone subscribers reached over 1,000,000. (MTS - 800,000 and
Altyn Asyr GSM 450,000 (estimate)
Internet Service
Turkmenistan gained access to the InternetInternet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
in 1997 through a contract with MCI Communications
MCI Communications
MCI Communications Corp. was an American telecommunications company that was instrumental in legal and regulatory changes that led to the breakup of the AT&T monopoly of American telephony and ushered in the competitive long-distance telephone industry. It was headquartered in Washington,...
(later became MCI WorldCom). A small number of independent Internet Service Providers were forced out of business in 2001 when TurkmenTelecom was granted a monopoly over data services. Dependence on expensive satellite channels limited the availability of Internet to only two thousand subscribers. To upgrade the Internet backbone, Ministry of Communication signed a contract with TATA Communications
Tata Communications
Tata Communications Limited ) is a telecommunications company located in Mumbai. They own a submarine cable network, a Tier-1 IP network, and also rent data center and colocation space. They operate India's largest data center in Pune...
for routing traffic through Transit-Asia-Europe fiber optic channel. As a result of this development, TurkmenTelecom started offering an access to the higher speed Internet with ADSL to the consumers in Ashgabat.
In 2008, MTS started offering Internet service to mobile subscribers via GPRS. Altyn Asyr was first to lunch 3G
3G
3G or 3rd generation mobile telecommunications is a generation of standards for mobile phones and mobile telecommunication services fulfilling the International Mobile Telecommunications-2000 specifications by the International Telecommunication Union...
and 2 mpbs mobile internet service in March 2010. Move surprised mobile customers as the provider was known for inferior but cheaper service.
Country code
Country code
Country codes are short alphabetic or numeric geographical codes developed to represent countries and dependent areas, for use in data processing and communications. Several different systems have been developed to do this. The best known of these is ISO 3166-1...
(Top level domain): TM
Television
Analog TV signal feed of 5 national channels are receivable over-the-air in all living areas across the country. Foreign TV channels are watched with digital satellite receiver. In some places of Ashgabat, cable service is available where satellite dishes are not allowed to be installed.List of broadcast stations:
- Altyn Asyr (Golden Age)
- Ýaşlyk (Youth)
- Miras (Inheritance)
- TV4 Turkmenistan - News channel broadcast in 7 languages.
- Türkmen Owazy - Turkmen Music channel, launched in 2009.
All 5 of national channels are aired on Yamal satellitle for international audience.
Telephone
TelephoneTelephone
The telephone , colloquially referred to as a phone, is a telecommunications device that transmits and receives sounds, usually the human voice. Telephones are a point-to-point communication system whose most basic function is to allow two people separated by large distances to talk to each other...
s - main lines in use:
500,000 (2006)
domestic:
500 automatic telephone stations and 500,000 telephone numbers.
international:
linked by cable
Cable
A cable is two or more wires running side by side and bonded, twisted or braided together to form a single assembly. In mechanics cables, otherwise known as wire ropes, are used for lifting, hauling and towing or conveying force through tension. In electrical engineering cables are used to carry...
and microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
relay to other Commonwealth of Independent States
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States is a regional organization whose participating countries are former Soviet Republics, formed during the breakup of the Soviet Union....
republics and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
international gateway switch; a new telephone link from Ashgabat to Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
has been established; a new exchange in Ashgabat switches international traffic through Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
via Intelsat; satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
stations - 1 Orbita
Orbita
Orbita is a Soviet-Russian system of broadcasting and delivering TV signals via satellites. It is considered to be the first national network of satellite television....
and 1 Intelsat
Intelsat
Intelsat, Ltd. is a communications satellite services provider.Originally formed as International Telecommunications Satellite Organization , it was—from 1964 to 2001—an intergovernmental consortium owning and managing a constellation of communications satellites providing international broadcast...
Newspapers
List of newspapers in Turkmenistan:- Turkmenskaya IskraTurkmenskaya IskraTurkmenskaya Iskra was a Russian-language, Soviet-era newspaper in the Turkmen SSR, modern-day Turkmenistan. It was first published on November 7, 1924....
(Soviet-era) - Balkan newspaper, Turkmenistan (BalkanabatBalkanabatBalkanabat , formerly Nebit Dag, is a city in western Turkmenistan, and the capital of Balkan Province. It is located at , at an altitude of 17 meters, some 400 kilometers from Ashgabat. As of 2006, the city had an estimated population of 87,822. Balkanabat lies at the foot of the Balkan...
)