Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, Feb.22 / Trend, H. Hasanov /
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhammadov appointed Bayramgeldi Ovezov as communications minister.
Earlier, Ovezov served as deputy communications minister.
The Communications Ministry in Turkmenistan is a monopolist in rendering services of communications and telecommunications. State-owned companies operating under it provide services of public telephone and mobile communications, as well as Internet and cable TV.
Changes are possible in this sphere. In particular, President Berdimuhammadov instructed to give mobile services into private hands, including privatizing national operator - Altyn Asir (TM CELL) in order to ensure competition and systematically expand volume and increasing quality of public service provided by them particularly, on providing high-speed Internet communications".
It is expected that joint ventures will be set up with some foreign capital. It was reported that negotiations are underway with the Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat) of the UAE, which is one of the major mobile operators in the world (over 100 million subscribers). The company provides communication services in almost 20 countries in the Middle East, Asia and Africa.