KAZAKHSTAN

Since 2016, Tajikistan requires all ISPs to route international traffic through the state-controlled Single Communications Gateway via EKTs, enabling surveillance and censorship. Fixed-line broadband penetration is effectively zero, with about 6,000 fixed broadband subscriptions nationwide (roughly 0.07% of the population) as of 2025. Mobile internet dominates, with 10.54 million active mobile connections by early 2024 (about 102.9% of the population) and 4G coverage reaching roughly 72% of people by end-2022. Tajiktelecom monopoly on international bandwidth; in 2018 the government deprived ISPs of the right to buy international bandwidth from abroad, forcing purchases from Tajiktelecom at inflated prices, with bandwidth sold

As of early 2024, Turkmenistan had about 2.59 million internet users, roughly 39.5% of the population—the lowest penetration in Central Asia. Turkmenistan’s telecom market is a state monopoly led by Turkmentelecom (Turkmen Telecom), with TM CELL/Altyn Asyr as the sole mobile operator after MTS exited in 2017–2018. There were about 4.34 million mobile subscriptions in early 2024, representing 66% of the population, with 3G introduced in 2010 and 4G LTE in 2013. In 2023 the government set a minimum broadband speed of 1 Mbps and a top tier of 6 Mbps, though real-world speeds are often far lower. The median