Tajikistan Travel Guide - Communications

Country code: 992 (followed by 372 for Dushanbe). Services can be unreliable. International telephone calls can be made from telephone offices which are usually found attached to a post office (in Dushanbe, on Prospekt Rudaki). There are now also some new, private telephone offices in Dushanbe. International, operator-routed calls can also be ordered from some hotels such as the Hotel Tajikistan and the Hotel Independence. Direct-dial calls within the CIS are obtained by dialling 8 and waiting for another dial tone and then dialling the city code. Calls within the city limits are free of charge.

Roaming agreements exist with most international mobile phone companies. Coverage is limited to urban areas.

There are Internet cafes in the main cities. Some will allow you to plug in your own computer.

Mail to Western Europe and the USA can take between two weeks and two months. Stamped envelopes can be bought from post offices. Addresses should be laid out in the following order: country, postcode, city, street, house number and, lastly, the person's name. Postal services available include registered mail, restricted delivery, special delivery and Express mail (in Dushanbe only). Both surface and air mail are available for parcels.

Post office hours: Mon-Fri 0800-1800, Sat: 0900-1700. Visitors can also use the post offices located within the major hotels.

Press freedom is provided for in the constitution, but is not widely respected; independent journalists are said to come under huge pressure from the state. The Government controls the editorial policy of the state-owned media and state-operated radio and TV dominate broadcasting. There are over 30 local and regional private TV stations and more than 200 registered newspapers. Some are government-owned; others are connected to political parties and movements. There are no dailies. A few private radio stations exist. Dushanbe's first private station opened in September 2002, after waiting four years for a licence.

• All the main newspapers are printed in Dushanbe and include Narodnaya Gazeta (Russian), Jumhuriyat and Tojikiston Ovozi (Tajik).

• Tajik TV is a nationwide state-run channel, while Soghd TV and Khatlon TV are state-operated regional channels in the south.

• Tajik Radio is state run and operates two national networks.
• Private stations include Asia-Plus (Dushanbe's first private station), Radio Vatan and Radio Tiroz.