The only mobile network operator in Turkmenistan, Altyn Asyr, has stopped selling SIM cards to clients, citing a limited capacity for new telephone numbers, RFE/RL’s Turkmen Service reported.
Residents of the Turkmen capital, Ashgabat, told RFE/RL that many teenagers who became eligible to purchase telephones and SIM cards after they reached 16 and obtained their first ID documents have been unable to buy the cards in recent weeks. Even a system of waiting lists that had been used since spring 2023 amid a sudden reluctance by the operator to sell SIM cards to potential new mobile phone users has been abandoned, residents say.
