Afghanistan's telecom sector is recovering from
its dilapidated status at the end of recent hostilities
and should play a key role in repairing the country's
shattered economy. Four years after the fall of
the Taliban, full mobile services are rapidly taking
off, wireless local loop services are being rolled-out
in major towns and cities, while the government
is also undertaking a rapid and ambitious reform
agenda to ensure that private, competitive services
are the driving force behind future sector growth.
Steps to be taken in the near future include the
planned allocation of two additional mobile licenses,
one fixed operator license and Build-Operate-Transfer
(BOT) licenses for development of rural areas. The
government is also working on the eminent approval
of a new Telecom Law which will establish the new
regulator, among other things.
Afghanistan's government forecasts that private
sector investment may reach close to US$1.0 billion
over the period to 2015. Funding requirement for
public investment to be undertaken by the Ministry
of Communications are estimated to be about US$334
million between 2004 and 2010. Out of this only
about US$104 million have been committed mostly
from the World Bank, under the Emergency Communications
Development project, ADB, UNDP, ARTF and UNAMA,
India and Iran.
At the end of March 2005 the country had an estimated
75,000 lines, representing a penetration rate as
low as 0.3%. This situation should continue to improve
with some significant government-led network expansion
projects in and around major cities, the allocation
of new fixed licenses and the stabilisation of the
political and economic environment.
The mobile sector, on the other hand, has grown
by 271.1% since 2001. At the end of April 2005,
the number of mobile users had reached 800,000,
representing 90.4% of the country's telephone connections.
The arrival of new players planned for 2006 should
continue stimulating the market and it is forecasted
that the number of subscribers will reach 6.9 million
at the end of 2009.
Find our more about this market in HOT TELECOM's
new 24-page country report.
More info: http://www.hottelecom.com/afghanistan-copr.html
