APRIL 4 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – Frustration is growing among thousands of people in Turkmenistan without mobile phone access since the government cancelled a service agreement with Russia’s MTS in December, said the Initiative of Turkmen Human Rights. Altyn Asyr, now the only Turkmen mobile phone operator, has had to cope with a 400% jump in demand.

APRIL 11 2011 (The Conway Bulletin) – The patience of Turkmenistan’s estimated 3.1m mobile phone subscribers is wearing thin. Services have been heavily disrupted since the Turkmen government terminated a contract with Russia’s biggest mobile phone operator MTS.

Under the agreement, MTS had serviced around 80% of Turkmen’s mobile phone market. When it rescinded the deal, the Turkmen ministry of communications said MTS had broken the terms of the contract which had also expired. MTS said the government just wanted the lucrative contract.

That all happened in December. Since then it appears Altyn Asyr, the trading name for Turkmen mobile phone provider TM-Cell, has struggled to meet demand. Even President Kurbanguly Berdymukhamedov has become frustrated. In March, according to media reports, he called Altyn Asyr “bungling”.

Mobile phones are essential in Turkmenistan where fixed lines are unreliable and decrepit.

On April 4, the Initiative of Turkmen Human Rights reported how hundreds of people queued for hours outside an Altyn Asyr shop which promised to sell SIM cards. Instead they were only able to buy a voucher which could be swapped for a SIM card next month when new supplies arrive.

This report could not be independently corroborated but 3 days later news reports said the Turkmen government had signed a deal with equipment makers Nokia Siemens Networks and China’s Huawei Technologies to help improve services. The saga continues.