Turkmenistan backs equipment for Altyn Asyr but names no supplier or cost

Turkmenistan's Cabinet of Ministers backed a proposal on 17 October to strengthen the material and technical base of mobile operator Altyn Asyr, after a report that steps were being taken to supply it with "sets of modern equipment", the State News Agency's account says.

The account does not name a supplier, give a cost or a source of funding, or say how many sites, which regions or which generation of mobile technology the equipment is for. It gives no timetable for delivery or installation.

Altyn Asyr is a closed joint-stock company. B. Annayev, Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet, told the online meeting that measures were being taken to improve the national system of cellular communication and maintain its availability, and that "a great significance is attached to partnership with leading world companies". President Serdar Berdimuhamedov approved the proposal and gave Annayev "a number of instructions", the account says.

A tender in March

Altyn Asyr announced an international tender for the supply of 5G and 4G base stations and the modernisation of its mobile network across several regions of Turkmenistan, Trend reported on 26 March. The October account does not mention that tender or say whether the approved equipment comes from it, and no award appears in the cabinet accounts reviewed for this report. Since then the operator has launched 5G in the Awaza National Tourist Zone ahead of international events held there from 7 to 9 October, a Trend report of 15 October citing the government's press service said, without giving a number of sites or a supplier. Services provided by the Ministry of Communications grew by 15.3 per cent in January to September, the State News Agency's account of the cabinet meeting of 2 October says.

Earlier decisions this year

The agency's accounts show the cabinet approved earlier proposals for the sector on 20 February and 20 March. On 20 February Annayev reported on steps by the Ministry of Communications to modernise industries with digital solutions, and on cooperation with "technologically advanced countries" meant to support the Concept for the Development of a Digital System; the president approved a proposal to strengthen the material and technical base of the ministry, the account of that meeting says.

On 6 March the president instructed Annayev to modernise the material and technical basis of the communications sector "according to time realities on a constant basis", the account of 6 March says. The same account puts growth in the services of the Ministry of Communications at 13.2 per cent in January and February. On 20 March Annayev reported on work to improve the quality of telecommunication services, expand the internet network and increase the throughput of international transit data links, and the president approved a proposal on modernising the communication system and improving the quality of its services, the 20 March account says.

What the accounts leave out

None of the four accounts gives a figure for spending, sites, capacity or subscribers, and none names a supplier. The only figure specific to communications in them is the growth rate of the Ministry of Communications' services, given as a rate of increase without a value in manat or a split between mobile, fixed and internet services. Nor do they say how the new equipment relates to the 5G service in Awaza. The first edition of Corridor Signal's 5G Scorecard found no published 5G figures for Turkmenistan, and the 17 October decision adds none. The Internet Society's Pulse tracker lists no active internet exchange point in the country, Corridor Signal has reported.

The 20 March account says the work then under way was guided by instructions the president had given earlier, and the October decision again ends with instructions whose content the account does not give. The 17 October account sets no date for the equipment to be delivered.