Correspondents of “Chronicles of Turkmenistan” report that the demand for VPN software, the installation of which allows visiting the Internet resources blocked in the country, is growing.
The owners of mobile phones contact service centres and select specialists with a request to install program which enable to bypass the blocking. On average, the software installation service costs about 50 manats in Ashgabat. However, it needs to be updated on a monthly basis.
The special services inspect the mobile phones sales and repair centres and stores and in case they identify such programs are installed there, fines are imposed on violators. Cases are recorded when points of sale and service shops, installing unauthorized software, were shut down.
It should be mentioned that a week ago the social network “Odnoklassniki”, popular among Turkmen residents, was blocked in the country. It could be opened using various means, but the images and videos are not fully downloaded. Moreover, uploading web pages is traffic intensive and consequently, costly.