to present a passport, and their activities are recorded and logs are sent to a government server.
Nearly two years after the transition several of the 15 official access points were
closed, and all have suffered repeated service outages and closures. In 2007, President
Berdymukhamedov reprimanded the minister of communications for the high prices
at Internet cafe ´s. 19 As a consequence, access prices dropped by more than 60 percent,
and Internet access at Internet cafe ´s now costs around USD 2. Aside from the obvious
submission to monitoring inherent in presenting one’s passport, Internet cafe ´s are
staffed mostly by youth; furthermore, anyone who uses an Internet cafe ´ is mindful of
what he or she accesses. Nevertheless, administrators report that most Internet cafe ´s receive only up to ten visitors a day.
Contact with the outside world is still difficult in Turkmenistan. Prices for home
access to the Internet are steep, creating an additional economic barrier to widespread
Internet use. Thus, the Internet largely remains a privilege to those working for foreign
companies, the government, and, in a small number of cases, those studying or working at universities. International organizations are trying to improve the local climate
by providing regional centers and administrations with modern computer equipment
and Internet access, as well as establishing satellite connections of Turkmen science
centers to the worldwide network. 20
In March 2008, the official government Web site Turkmenistan.ru announced that
TurkmenTelecom was finally offering dial-up home Internet connection to the public.
The rates were set at USD 42 to open an account, a flat USD 5 per month fee, and USD
4 per hour for browsing, with speeds of 45 Kbps. 21 These rates are unaffordable for the
vast majority of the population and more than six times higher than in neighboring
Uzbekistan. New leased lines were also to be connected starting immediately, at high
monthly rates of USD 1,000–USD 2,000.
Internet use in the CIS region has increased significantly in the last several years in
all countries except for Turkmenistan. Various attempts at measuring Internet penetration have posited that between 0.17 and 4 percent of the population use the Internet,
with ITU estimates being 1.4 percent. 22 Notwithstanding the low level of penetration,
the number of users has increased significantly since the offer of home Internet access.
Fixed-line penetration is less than 10 percent, with negligible broadband. Permission
has now been given for broadband national WiMAX frequencies. There are fewer than
500 Web sites hosted in the country under the top-level domain ‘‘.tm,’’ more than half
by a foreign-funded development project. The rest consist almost entirely of official
Web sites of government entities. Nearly 95 percent of regular Internet users are in
the capital, Ashgabat.
There are two mobile operators in the country. Atlyn Asyr is wholly controlled by
the state, with roughly 160,000 subscribers. In November 2007, MTS, a Russian mobile
service provider (100 percent privately owned), began offering GPRS/EDGE service to
Turkmenistan
241
Nearly two years after the transition several of the 15 official access points were
closed, and all have suffered repeated service outages and closures. In 2007, President
Berdymukhamedov reprimanded the minister of communications for the high prices
at Internet cafe ´s. 19 As a consequence, access prices dropped by more than 60 percent,
and Internet access at Internet cafe ´s now costs around USD 2. Aside from the obvious
submission to monitoring inherent in presenting one’s passport, Internet cafe ´s are
staffed mostly by youth; furthermore, anyone who uses an Internet cafe ´ is mindful of
what he or she accesses. Nevertheless, administrators report that most Internet cafe ´s receive only up to ten visitors a day.
Contact with the outside world is still difficult in Turkmenistan. Prices for home
access to the Internet are steep, creating an additional economic barrier to widespread
Internet use. Thus, the Internet largely remains a privilege to those working for foreign
companies, the government, and, in a small number of cases, those studying or working at universities. International organizations are trying to improve the local climate
by providing regional centers and administrations with modern computer equipment
and Internet access, as well as establishing satellite connections of Turkmen science
centers to the worldwide network. 20
In March 2008, the official government Web site Turkmenistan.ru announced that
TurkmenTelecom was finally offering dial-up home Internet connection to the public.
The rates were set at USD 42 to open an account, a flat USD 5 per month fee, and USD
4 per hour for browsing, with speeds of 45 Kbps. 21 These rates are unaffordable for the
vast majority of the population and more than six times higher than in neighboring
Uzbekistan. New leased lines were also to be connected starting immediately, at high
monthly rates of USD 1,000–USD 2,000.
Internet use in the CIS region has increased significantly in the last several years in
all countries except for Turkmenistan. Various attempts at measuring Internet penetration have posited that between 0.17 and 4 percent of the population use the Internet,
with ITU estimates being 1.4 percent. 22 Notwithstanding the low level of penetration,
the number of users has increased significantly since the offer of home Internet access.
Fixed-line penetration is less than 10 percent, with negligible broadband. Permission
has now been given for broadband national WiMAX frequencies. There are fewer than
500 Web sites hosted in the country under the top-level domain ‘‘.tm,’’ more than half
by a foreign-funded development project. The rest consist almost entirely of official
Web sites of government entities. Nearly 95 percent of regular Internet users are in
the capital, Ashgabat.
There are two mobile operators in the country. Atlyn Asyr is wholly controlled by
the state, with roughly 160,000 subscribers. In November 2007, MTS, a Russian mobile
service provider (100 percent privately owned), began offering GPRS/EDGE service to
Turkmenistan
241