TURKMENISTAN: BROAD INTERNET ACCESS FINALLY BECOMING A

UNCLAS ASHGABAT 000797 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/CEN, EEB PLEASE PASS TO USTDA DAN STEIN COMMERCE FOR HUEPER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EINV ECPS TX SUBJECT: TURKMENISTAN: BROAD INTERNET ACCESS FINALLY BECOMING A REALITY REF: Ashgabat 00348 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Not for public Internet. ¶2. (U) SUMMARY: The Government of Turkmenistan's telecommunications sector has finally started to act on President Berdimuhamedov's call for "Internet access in every home, school, and kindergarten." Russian cellular telecommunications company MTS previously limited its Internet services through a Blackberry-type technology to only businesses, but recently announced it is now extending this service to the general public at a lower, (but still generally unaffordable price). Turkmen Telecom, too, has begun to expand its dial-up Internet subscription service to more private citizens. END SUMMARY. INTERNET FOR EVERYBODY ¶3. (U) In March 2008, MTS (Mobile TeleSystems) started providing Internet service through GPRS (General Packet Radio Service),a Blackberry-type technology, to legal entities and foreign businessmen (reftel). In mid-June, it extended its service to all customers wishing to access Internet -- and lowered prices. Whereas the cost of service used to be $1 per megabyte of traffic, it now costs 25 cents. In announcing these changes, MTS General Director in Turkmenistan Dmitry Shukov stressed that his company's new service allows users to use mobile Internet at anytime, and anywhere MTS coverage exists. In addition to its convenience, the GPRS service also provides high speed connection, ranging from 474 kilobyts to 1712 kilobytes a second, compared to Turkmen Telecom's 50 kilobytes per second. TURKMEN TELECOM IS GETTING ITS ACT TOGETHER ¶4. (SBU) State-owned "Turkmen Telecom," under the Ministry of Communications, also started expanding its dial-up Internet service in June. This new, expanded service has become possible with the delivery of $1.5 million of new equipment, provided by the Russian company "TechnoServe." Local contacts report Turkmen Telecom has been hooking up to 20 homes to the Internet daily. The initial hookup costs 600,000 manats ($42),a monthly subscription fee is 200,000 manats ($14),and Internet use per minute is 200 manats, which rounds up to 12,000 manats ($0.80) per hour. And, although a number of newly hooked-up customers are reporting that the new service is fast and easy to connect with, getting service still requires a lengthy process, due to a waiting list of more than 2,000 households. (NOTE: One Embassy employee who submitted the necessary paper work for an Internet connection three weeks ago has still not heard back from Turkmen Telecom. END NOTE.) ¶5. (SBU) COMMENT: The lack of commercial competition in this sector and Turkmen Telecom's burdensome application procedures for those seeking Internet service create favorable market conditions for MTS to push its Internet services. Although MTS has lowered the price substantially, the cost remains unaffordable for the majority of Turkmenistan's population. END COMMENT. HOAGLAND