Turkmenistan Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 801,721 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 13 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 6,254,681 (2022 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.)