{"id":69443,"date":"2020-02-19T14:42:01","date_gmt":"2020-02-19T11:42:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/blog\/internet-v-turkmenistane-czena-dostupnost-i-ogranicheniya"},"modified":"2020-03-03T16:14:55","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T13:14:55","slug":"internet-v-turkmenistane-czena-dostupnost-i-ogranicheniya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prohoster.info\/en\/blog\/administrirovanie\/internet-v-turkmenistane-czena-dostupnost-i-ogranicheniya","title":{"rendered":"Internet in Turkmenistan: price, availability, and restrictions","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Internet
\n
\nTurkmenistan is one of the most closed countries in the world. Not as closed as, say, North Korea, but close to that. An important distinction is the publicly available internet, which citizens can access without much difficulty. This article discusses the state of the internet industry in the country, the availability of the network, connection costs, and the restrictions imposed by officials.
\n <\/a><\/noindex><\/p>\n

When did the internet appear in Turkmenistan?<\/h3>\n

\nUnder Saparmurat Niyazov, the internet was exotic. At that time, there were only a few points of connection to the global network, and access was available only to high-ranking officials and security personnel, rarely to civilian users. There were a few small internet providers. In the early 2000s, some companies were closed, while others merged. As a result, a state monopoly emerged \u2014 the service provider 'Turkmentelecom'. There are also small provider companies, but they are essentially subsidiaries of 'Turkmentelecom' and are completely subordinated to it.<\/p>\n

After President Berdymukhamedov came to power, internet cafes appeared in Turkmenistan, and the network infrastructure began to develop. The first modern internet cafes opened in 2007. Turkmenistan also has third and fourth generation cellular networks. Any resident of the country can connect to it and thus to the internet. You just need to buy a SIM card and insert it into the device. <\/p>\n

How much does the internet cost and what is needed for connection?<\/h3>\n

\nEverything is like in most other countries \u2014 the provider requires a submitted application. The new subscriber is connected within a couple of days. The pricing situation is somewhat worse. According to calculations by experts from the 'World Bank', the internet in Turkmenistan is the most expensive among the former Soviet countries. One gigabyte here costs 3.5 times more than in Russia. The connection cost ranges from 2500 to 6200 in ruble equivalent per month. For comparison, in the capital's government agency, the salary is around 18,113 rubles (1000 manat), while salaries for other professions, especially in the regions, are significantly lower. <\/p>\n

As mentioned above, another option for internet connectivity is mobile communication, specifically 4G networks. When the 4G infrastructure first appeared, speeds reached up to 70 Mbps even outside the city. Now, with the significant increase in the number of subscribers, the speed has decreased by ten times \u2014 down to 7 Mbps within the city limits. As for 3G, speeds here are under 500 Kbps. <\/p>\n

According to the American agency \u2018Akamai Technologies\u2019, internet accessibility for the population in the country is at 20%. One of the providers in the capital of Turkmenistan has only 15,000 users, despite the city\u2019s population exceeding 1 million.<\/p>\n

The average internet speed for users in the country is below 0.5 Mbps.<\/p>\n

As for the city itself, the Ministry of Communication stated about a year and a half ago that in Ashgabat, the data transfer speed between data centers averages 20 Gbps.<\/a><\/noindex>The mobile infrastructure is quite well-developed \u2014 the network covers even small settlements. If you go beyond these villages, connectivity will still be available \u2014 the coverage is decent. However, this pertains to regular phone communication, while the speed and quality of mobile internet are not very good. <\/p>\n

Are all services available, or are there any blocked? <\/p>\n

\"Internet
\n <\/p>\n

In Turkmenistan, many well-known websites and services are blocked, including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Vkontakte, \u201cLiveJournal\u201d, Lenta.ru. Instant messengers like WhatsApp, WeChat, Viber are also unavailable. Other websites are blocked, mostly those that publish criticism of the authorities. Interestingly, the website of MTS Turkmenistan, the women\u2019s magazine Women.ru, some culinary sites, etc. are also blocked.<\/h3>\n

\nIn October 2019, access to Google Cloud was closed, causing users to lose access to services like Google Drive, Google Docs, and others. The problem likely arose because a mirror of an opposition website was hosted on this service in the summer.<\/p>\n

In October 2019, access to Google Cloud was restricted, causing users to lose access to services such as Google Drive, Google Docs, and others. The issue is likely due to the fact that a mirror of an opposition website was hosted on this service during the summer. <\/p>\n

Authorities are actively combating tools for bypassing restrictions, including anonymizers and VPNs. Previously, mobile phone stores and service centers offered users the installation of VPN applications. The authorities took measures and began regularly fining business owners. As a result, service centers removed this service. Additionally, the government monitors the websites that users visit. Accessing a banned resource may lead to a summons and require an explanation. In some cases, law enforcement representatives may arrive in person. <\/p>\n

For the sake of fairness, it should be noted that a few years ago the ban on torrents was lifted.<\/p>\n

How do authorities block undesirable resources and monitor attempts to bypass restrictions?<\/h3>\n

\nThis is the most interesting point. As far as is known, the equipment and software for monitoring are supplied by Western companies. The Ministry of Security is responsible for controlling the national network and managing the technological infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The ministry is actively collaborating with the German company Rohde & Schwarz. Companies from the United Kingdom are also supplying equipment and software to the country. A couple of years ago, their parliament authorized deliveries to Turkmenistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Brunei, Turkey, and Bahrain.<\/p>\n

Turkmenistan needs specialists for internet filtering services. There is a shortage of local experts, and the government turns to foreign assistance.<\/p>\n

According to according to experts<\/a><\/noindex> Turkmenistan is purchasing two types of equipment for network monitoring \u2014 \"R&S INTRA\" and \"R&S Unified Firewalls,\" as well as the software \"R&S PACE 2.\"<\/p>\n

Monitoring is conducted not by the Ministry itself, but by two private telecommunications companies associated with it. One of the companies is owned by a former member of Turkmenistan's state security services. These same companies receive government contracts for developing websites, software, and servicing network equipment.<\/p>\n

The supplied software from Europe analyzes speech and uses filters for recognizing words, phrases, and entire sentences. The analysis results are compared against a 'blacklist'. In case of a match, law enforcement agencies take action. They monitor SMS as well as messaging apps.<\/p>\n

Example test using BlockCheck v0.0.9.8:<\/p>\n

\"Internet
\n
\n\"Internet
\n<\/p>\n

Fighting VPNs<\/h3>\n

\nThe authorities of Turkmenistan are variably successful in their fight against VPNs due to the popularity of the technology among internet users who refuse to tolerate the blocking of major foreign sites. The government employs the same equipment from a German company for traffic filtering.<\/p>\n

Additionally, attempts are made to block mobile VPN applications. From our side, we observe unavailability for some users of our mobile VPN application. Only the integrated API function via proxy helps.<\/p>\n

\"Internet
\n
\nWe are in contact with several users from Turkmenistan, and they periodically report some issues with connectivity. One of them actually prompted the creation of this article. Even after successfully logging into the application, not all servers are accessible. It seems that some automatic filters for recognizing VPN traffic are in operation. According to the same users, the connection works best with newly added servers.<\/p>\n

\"Internet
\n
\nIn January of last year, the government went even further and blocked<\/a><\/noindex> access to the Google Play store.<\/p>\n

\u2026 residents of Turkmenistan lost access to the Google Play store, from which users downloaded applications that allowed them to bypass the blocks.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\nAll these actions only increased the popularity of block-bypassing technologies. During the same period, the number of search queries related to VPNs in Turkmenistan increased by 577%<\/a><\/noindex>.<\/p>\n

In the future, Turkmenistan's authorities promise to improve the state of the network infrastructure, increase connection speeds, and expand the coverage area of 3G and 4G. But it is unclear when this will happen and what will happen next with the blocks.
\n
Source: habr.com<\/a> <\/p>","protected":false,"gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"html"}]},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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