Turkmenistan Communications 2023, CIA World Factbook

total subscriptions: 800,000 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 13 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 6.3 million (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 99 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: the nation of Turkmenistan, which rivals only North Korea for its isolationism, continues to keep its telecom sector along with the broader populace under tight control; the country inched up just one point off the bottom of the world rankings for press and internet freedom in the most recent report from Reporters Without Borders; most social networks in the country are blocked, although locals do have access to the government-developed platform released in 2019; all internet users, however, need to identify themselves before logging on, and strict censorship over what can be viewed is in force; the end result is that Turkmenistan has one of the lowest penetration rates for internet access in the world (2022)

domestic: fixed-line is 13 per 100 and mobile-cellular teledensity is 99 per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 993; linked by fiber-optic cable and microwave radio relay to other CIS republics and to other countries by leased connections to the Moscow international gateway switch; an exchange in Ashgabat switches international traffic through Turkey via Intelsat; satellite earth stations - 1 Orbita and 1 Intelsat (2018)

Broadcast media

broadcast media is government controlled and censored; 7 state-owned TV and 4 state-owned radio networks; satellite dishes and programming provide an alternative to the state-run media; officials sometimes limit access to satellite TV by removing satellite dishes

Internet country code

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Internet users

total: 1,563,023 (2022 est.)

percent of population: 25.3% (2022 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 10,000 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 0.2 (2020 est.)

NOTE: The information regarding Turkmenistan on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Turkmenistan 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Turkmenistan 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.