Dubai: Modern Technology International (MTI), a Dubai-based telecom company, has acquired a unified telecom license to operate fixed, data and mobile in seven northern provinces of Afghanistan comprising a population of 7 million.
Wasel Telecom, MTI's local entity in Afghanistan, is expected to roll out its commercial services by November this year.
The Jebel Ali Free Zone-based company last week signed an agreement with Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA) to formalise the deal, Byung Ho Chung MTI's chairman said in a statement.
The UAE's Etisalat is also entering Afghanistan, a highly potential market with 31 million inhabitants served by only two GSM operators, Roshan and AWCC having 1.5 million subscribers, while a third operator Investcom is yet to roll out its services commercially. Government-owned Afghan Telecom provides the fixed phone line.
"The northern area of Afghanistan has strong demand for communications as most of the people living there do businesses with the five Central Asian countries Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajik-istan and China," Chung said.
"This is just a start. We are pursuing telecom licenses in many other countries in the Middle East, Africa and Central Asia and the CIS. We are confident of having 10 licenses in the next two years and become one of the major telecom players in this region."
Etisalat is likely to formally announce its entry in Afghanistan at a press conference in Abu Dhabi today, which coincides with the visit of Afghan President Hamid Karzai to the UAE.
By Saifur Rahman
Gulf News 2006
