Beyond the Mountains

The country governed by Taliban and then torn by a decade of war was nothing but mountains vs. men. Communication was a big issue but only a few years back. Afghanistan is now emerging as a huge telecommunications market, as the people have started to realize the importance of technology. It was not long ago that even the Afghan Taliban - when ruled - used to travel all the way to Pakistan, just to express their thoughts, plans and strategies to the world. Obviously, that had to happen after they destroyed all the sources of telecommunication in the country.
According to recent figures, over 80 percent of the total population now holds a subscription to one or more landline and/or cell phone connections. In 2006 around 300,000 people had subscribed with the internet providers, which then was a huge number of users. But within just four years, the numbers have bulged to a 1,000,000 users.
These ballooning figures do not only illustrate the number of users but the massive and promising telecommunication market Afghanistan is turning out to be. Current telecommunication service providers for landlines and cell phones in the country are Etisalat Afghanistan, Areeba, MTN Group of Companies, Wasel Telecom, Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) and Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd. under the name Roshan.
Apart from the internet and the cell phones, there are about 25 television channels currently running in Afghanistan.  Most of them operate directly from the country itself while some like AATV, ATN, Noor TV and Payam-e-Afghanistan TV operate from countries like U.S.A., Germany and UAE. There is less competition in the Radio industry as there are only five FM stations, 21 AM stations, and one shortwave station which broadcast in Pashto, Dari, and English languages.
In the telecommunication scene, phones and internet sectors are the bigger players as compared to the television and radio industries. The telephone and internet market is swelling up with time as a number of international firms have jumped in to exploit the developing market. The future of this sector will not only bring opportunities to the country fellows but also tighten up the competition providing the dwellers of one of the poorest countries in the world, with a whole lot more facilities.
Exploring the phone and internet market is a good idea but for the foreign investments to land in the country, sectors like data processing, basic business-processing operations information and communication technology (ICT), data transfer, process control and the call-centers can be huge opportunities.  The country has not even started looking into these sectors seriously. And the first one in each of these sectors will take the biggest slice out of this pie.
Besides these issues, Afghanistan has a lot of promises for present and future entrepreneurs. The telecom business is not only bringing in the positive element into the lives of Afghan people socially but with the expansion of communication, may it be on phone or online, many businesses will avail this convenience. The economically stable country looks forward to achieve new heights in telecommunication industry and will prove beneficial for investors around the world as well.



NOTE: This article was published in South Asia Magazine August edition.