Page last updated on February 8,

Telephones - main lines in use:
520,000 (2010)
country comparison to the world: 96
[see also: Telephones - main lines in use country ranks ]

Telephones - mobile cellular:
3.198 million (2010)
country comparison to the world: 117
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular country ranks ]

Telephone system:
general assessment: telecommunications network remains underdeveloped and progress toward improvement is slow; strict government control and censorship inhibits liberalization and modernization
domestic: Turkmentelekom, in cooperation with foreign partners, has installed high speed fiber-optic lines and has upgraded most of the country's telephone exchanges and switching centers with new digital technology; combined fixed-line and mobile teledensity is about 40 per 100 persons but the expulsion of the country's primary mobile service provider, Russia's Mobile Telesystems, in December 2010 significantly reduced access to mobile phone service
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 (2010)

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 (2011)

Internet country code:
.tm

Internet hosts:
794 (2010)
country comparison to the world: 175
[see also: Internet hosts country ranks ]

Internet users:
80,400 (2009)
country comparison to the world: 165
[see also: Internet users country ranks ]