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ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 070823Z FEB 08
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ASHGABAT 000192 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/CEN, DRL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM TX
SUBJECT:  TURKMENISTAN:  500 SATELLITE TV CHANNELS FOR 
EVERY CITIZEN -- A CHICKEN IN EVERY POT? 
 
REF: A. 07 ASHGABAT 1325 
     ¶B. ASHGABAT 0023 
 
¶1.  (U)  Sensitive but unclassified.  Not for public Internet. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  SUMMARY:  Work continues in Ashgabat to provide 
standardize satellite-television access for all citizens. 
The government recently provided further detail on the 
process of replacing the private satellite dishes on almost 
every apartment balcony, calling the project a sign of 
progress.  It remains to be seen whether the authorities will 
want to make use of their control over satellite access in 
the future to limit programming, but so far they have not. 
In fact, they are trumpeting that citizens will now have 
access to about 500 global stations, rather than the previous 
¶20.  If true, this would be a remarable opening of the 
information space in Turkmenistan.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶3.  (U)  On January 28, Turkmen television aired a meeting 
Communications Minister Hojagurbanow held with mid-level 
officials, where the Minister explained in further detail 
President Berdimuhamedov's decision to remove unsightly 
private satellite dishes from apartment balconies.  He also 
explained the process by which the Ministry is undertaking 
the work.  He said that single, high-capacity dishes would be 
installed on each residential building so that all residents 
will have access both to national channels and some 500 
foreign television channels. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  On January 31, "Neytralniy Turkmenistan" spelled 
out the benefits of the changeover, noting "residents will no 
longer have to find satellite repair people to connect up or 
install dishes, because government specialists from 
Turkmentelecom will do everything themselves."  The newspaper 
reported that connecting to the system will be free, and then 
Turkmentelecom will charge a monthly fee of 12,000 manat 
(about $2 at the official exchange rate) for access.   the 
article pointed out this new satellite access will be not 
only for those living in "elite, white-marble heights, but 
for everyone."  The first stage of the project is to be 
completed by the end of February, and will establish the new 
service in some 50 residential buildings.  The second stage 
of the project will involve another 50 buildings. 
 
PRESIDENT ORDERS SPEED-UP 
 
¶5.  (U)  The president on February 2 asked the Ministry to 
speed up its work replacing the private dishes with shared, 
government-controlled systems.  The Ministry reported to the 
president that the work had been completed in 25 residential 
buildings.  It was also reviewing a tender for the supply of 
components needed for another 2,000 residential buildings. 
His report clarified that a total of four satellite dishes 
were to be mounted on each building to enable the reception 
of broadcasts from the Yamal 90 and Yamal 48 Russian 
satellites, the European Hotbird 13 satellite, and the 
Turkish Turksat satellite. 
 
AFFECTED AREA STILL SMALL 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  Local staff say that, so far, private dishes have 
been replaced on buildings primarily in the city center, 
especially along the main thoroughfare of Turkmenbashy Street 
and on some buildings in the Mir Region, located in the 
southeastern quarter of Ashgabat.  Local staff say residents 
of these buildings with whom they have spoken report no 
change in their satellite access, including to Russian news 
stations.  In some other areas of Ashgabat off main streets, 
residents have been able to relocate private satellite dishes 
to the roof or to the sides of buildings not visible from the 
street. 
 
TECHNICALLY DIFFICULT 
 
 
ASHGABAT 00000192  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU)  A local satellite service contractor, who does 
both private and government work, told an EmbOff he did not 
know how the government was going to carry out this work, 
given the technical complexities of splitting a satellite 
signal among as many as 50-100 apartments per building.  A 
technical specialist at post who is familiar with the 
challenges of achieving satellite reception in Turkmenistan 
commented there are several ways to bring satellite reception 
to multiple residences from individual dishes, but each 
option comes with cost and complexity.  If the authorities 
want to make this a standard across the country, it will be 
expensive and take considerable time.  Local press reported 
that the Communications Ministry was purchasing sets of the 
technical equipment needed to implement this new cable-based 
satellite system only 50 at a time, suggesting the technology 
may be expensive. 
 
¶8.  (SBU)  Post's technical specialist hypothesized about the 
way that the government may be undertaking the satellite 
conversion.  The first option would envision four dishes on 
the roof, each with one receiver box and access card.  The 
cable connection from each dish would then be split to 
accommodate all the residences in that building, but the 
quality of reception would suffer.  Additional technology 
would have to be installed to allow residents to watch 
different channels concurrently.  The government could 
control the content of satellite programming via the program 
packages it purchases from international satellite program 
providers.  This would make satellite subscription access by 
Turkmenistan's citizens legal, but government service 
providers -- notoriously unresponsive to consumer needs -- 
would be responsible for repair and maintenance of the four 
receiver boxes, their access cards, and the dishes. 
 
¶9.  (SBU)  A second option would have the four rooftop 
satellite dishes linked via cable to individual receivers in 
the residences.  Residents would be able to insert or take 
out the access card, allowing them potentially to replace the 
government access card if they do not like the programming. 
This could continue the black market in satellite access 
cards.  It is possible, however, that since the government 
service-provider maintains the satellite dishes and 
connections to residences, it could also black out programs 
or channels it does not want received, making the card 
irrelevant. 
 
¶10.  (SBU)  COMMENT:  We see no evidence so far that this 
vast switch-over from private satellite dishes to a 
government-controlled cable system is an attempt to limit 
information.  On the contrary, the government has announced 
citizens will now have access to about 500 global channels, 
which, if true, would be a remarkable opening of 
Turkmenistan's information space.  It should be recalled that 
this enormous project originated when Berdimuhamedov, while 
being driven through Ashgabat, felt his aesthetic sense 
violated by the thousands of satellite dishes defacing the 
sides of every apartment building.  Given the cost and 
complexity of this project, we suspect in the end it might be 
completed only along the main streets and boulevards. 
However, the government has raised public expectations with 
the promise of 500 satellite channels for every citizen -- 
sort of the electronic-age version of a chicken in every pot. 
 END COMMENT. 
HOAGLAND