Turkmenistan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Turkmenistan - Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Turkmenistan keeps a stranglehold on internet and broadband use

The telecom market in Turkmenistan is full of extremes. It has one of the lowest internet penetration rates (in terms of accessibility) in the world, ranking second only to North Korea. At the same time, it enjoys near saturation levels for mobile phone subscriptions.

Part of the reason behind this incongruity is down to the government’s autocratic, repressive control over the media and access to information – particularly anything coming from outside its borders. But perhaps what’s more consequential is the extremely high cost of broadband – up to ten times higher than what’s found in neighbouring Central Asian countries. And that’s down to the monopoly being enjoyed by the state-owned telco Turkmentelecom (and its mobile offshoot TM Cell). Shortly after the only other MNO had its license revoked and was forced to exit the market, TM Cell announced a five-fold increase in mobile broadband prices.

The inevitable outcome has been mobile broadband subscriber penetration rates of less than 20% – far below the levels seen elsewhere. Considerable political and economic reform is desperately needed to give Turkmenistan any chance of playing catch-up to the rest of the world.