Communications in Afghanistan
Encyclopedia
Communications in Afghanistan
has dramatically increased since 2002, and has embarked on wireless companies, internet, radio stations and television channels. Afghan telecommunication companies, such as Afghan Wireless
and Roshan, have been boasting rapid increase in cellular phone usage in the mid 2000s. In response to this Etisalat
and MTN Group were launched in 2007.
The Afghan Ministry of Communications signed a $64.5 agreement in 2006 with China's ZTE
on the establishment of a countrywide optical fiber
cable network
. The plan was intended to improve telephone, internet, television and radio broadcast services throughout the country.
lines (cellular phone lines) in Afghanistan as of 2011, but only 73,000 fixed-telephone-lines including CDMA fixed-telephone-lines
. Mobile communications have improved because of the introduction of wireless carriers into this developing country
. The first was Afghan Wireless
, which is US based that was founded by Ehsan Bayat
. The second was Roshan
, which began providing services to all major cities within Afghanistan. There are also five or more VSAT's installed in Kabul
, Kandahar
, Herat
, Mazari Sharif, and Jalalabad
, providing international and domestic voice/data connectivity. The international calling code for Afghanistan is +93
. The following is a partial list of mobile phone companies in the country:
" domain in 2003, and the Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) was established to administer domain name
s. As of 2010, there are at least 46 internet service provider
s (ISPs) in the country. Internet in Afghanistan
is also at the peak with 1 million users in 2009.
stations throughout the country. Broadcasts are in Dari
, Pashto
, English
, Uzbek
and many other languages.
The number of radio listeners are decreasing and are being slowly outnumbered by television
. Of Afghanistan's 6 main cities, Kandahar
and Khost
have a lot of radio listeners. Kabul
and Jalalabad
have moderate number of listeners. However, Mazar-E-Sharif and especially Herat
have very few radio listeners.
was established at Bala Hissar
in Kabul and a post office in the capital of each province. The service was slowly being expanded over the years as more postal offices were established in each large city by 1918. Afghanistan became member of the Universal Postal Union
in 1928, and the postal administration elevated to the Ministry of Communication
in 1934. Civil war caused a disruption in issuing official stamps during the 1980s-90s war but in 1999 postal service was operating again. Postal services to/from Kabul worked remarkably well all throughout the war years. Postal services to/from Herat resumed in 1997. The Afghan government has reported to the UPU several times about illegal stamps being issued and sold in 2003 and 2007.
Afghanistan Post has been reorganizing the postal service in 2000s with the help of Pakistan Post
. The Afghanistan Postal commission was formed to prepare a written policy for the development of the postal sector, which will form the basis of a new postal services law governing licensing of postal services providers. The project was expected to finish by 2008.
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
has dramatically increased since 2002, and has embarked on wireless companies, internet, radio stations and television channels. Afghan telecommunication companies, such as Afghan Wireless
Afghan Wireless
Afghan Wireless is a cellular network provider in Afghanistan which was launched on 13 November 2002 by Ehsan Bayat. It is a joint venture business between Telephone Systems International in the United States and the Afghan Ministry of Communications. Afghan Wireless signed a 15 year-contract with...
and Roshan, have been boasting rapid increase in cellular phone usage in the mid 2000s. In response to this Etisalat
Etisalat
Emirates Telecommunications Corporation, branded trade name Etisalat is a UAE based telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa...
and MTN Group were launched in 2007.
The Afghan Ministry of Communications signed a $64.5 agreement in 2006 with China's ZTE
ZTE
ZTE Corporation formerly Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation is a Chinese multinational telecommunications equipment and systems company headquartered in Shenzhen, China...
on the establishment of a countrywide optical fiber
Optical fiber
An optical fiber is a flexible, transparent fiber made of a pure glass not much wider than a human hair. It functions as a waveguide, or "light pipe", to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of...
cable network
Cable network
A cable channel is a television channel available via cable television. Such channels are usually also available via satellite television, including direct broadcast satellite providers such as DirecTV, Dish Network and BSkyB...
. The plan was intended to improve telephone, internet, television and radio broadcast services throughout the country.
Telephone
There are 17.2 million mobile phoneMobile phone
A mobile phone is a device which can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link whilst moving around a wide geographic area. It does so by connecting to a cellular network provided by a mobile network operator...
lines (cellular phone lines) in Afghanistan as of 2011, but only 73,000 fixed-telephone-lines including CDMA fixed-telephone-lines
Landline
A landline was originally an overland telegraph wire, as opposed to an undersea cable. Currently, landline refers to a telephone line which travels through a solid medium, either metal wire or optical fibre, as distinguished from a mobile cellular line, where transmission is via radio waves...
. Mobile communications have improved because of the introduction of wireless carriers into this developing country
Developing country
A developing country, also known as a less-developed country, is a nation with a low level of material well-being. Since no single definition of the term developing country is recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely within so-called developing countries...
. The first was Afghan Wireless
Afghan Wireless
Afghan Wireless is a cellular network provider in Afghanistan which was launched on 13 November 2002 by Ehsan Bayat. It is a joint venture business between Telephone Systems International in the United States and the Afghan Ministry of Communications. Afghan Wireless signed a 15 year-contract with...
, which is US based that was founded by Ehsan Bayat
Ehsan Bayat
Ehsan Bayat is an Afghan business entrepreneur from the New York metropolitan area. He is an ethnic Qizilbash originally from Ghazni, Afghanistan. In 1979 or 1980, he went to the United States and obtained a bachelor degree in engineering. His family was influential in the commercial section of...
. The second was Roshan
Roshan (telco)
Roshan is Afghanistan's leading telecommunications provider, serving approximately 3.5 million active subscribers.In January 2003, Roshan was awarded the second GSM license in Afghanistan at a time when there was virtually no telecommunications infrastructure in place; national calls were...
, which began providing services to all major cities within Afghanistan. There are also five or more VSAT's installed in Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
, Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
, Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
, Mazari Sharif, and Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
, providing international and domestic voice/data connectivity. The international calling code for Afghanistan is +93
Telephone numbers in Afghanistan
Country code: +93International call prefix: 00Trunk prefix: 0-Fixed codes:Area codes in Afghanistan are two digits long. It is common to write phone numbers as yyy-yyyy, where xx is the area code. The 0 prefix is for long-distance dialing from within the country...
. The following is a partial list of mobile phone companies in the country:
- Afghan WirelessAfghan WirelessAfghan Wireless is a cellular network provider in Afghanistan which was launched on 13 November 2002 by Ehsan Bayat. It is a joint venture business between Telephone Systems International in the United States and the Afghan Ministry of Communications. Afghan Wireless signed a 15 year-contract with...
- RoshanRoshan (telco)Roshan is Afghanistan's leading telecommunications provider, serving approximately 3.5 million active subscribers.In January 2003, Roshan was awarded the second GSM license in Afghanistan at a time when there was virtually no telecommunications infrastructure in place; national calls were...
- EtisalatEtisalatEmirates Telecommunications Corporation, branded trade name Etisalat is a UAE based telecommunications services provider, currently operating in 18 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa...
- MTN Group
Internet
Afghanistan was given legal control of the ".af.af
.af is the Internet country code top-level domain for Afghanistan. It is administered by AFGNIC, a service of the UNDP and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan....
" domain in 2003, and the Afghanistan Network Information Center (AFGNIC) was established to administer domain name
Domain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
s. As of 2010, there are at least 46 internet service provider
Internet service provider
An Internet service provider is a company that provides access to the Internet. Access ISPs directly connect customers to the Internet using copper wires, wireless or fiber-optic connections. Hosting ISPs lease server space for smaller businesses and host other people servers...
s (ISPs) in the country. Internet in Afghanistan
Internet in Afghanistan
Internet in Afghanistan began in 2002 after the Taliban government was removed from power and replaced by the Karzai administration. It was banned by the Taliban in July 2001 because it was thought to broadcast obscene, immoral, and anti-Islam material, and because the few internet users at the...
is also at the peak with 1 million users in 2009.
Television
There are over 50 Afghan television channels worldwide - many of which broadcast in Afghanistan and others mainly in the USA.Radio
As of 2007, there are an estimated 50 private radioRadio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
stations throughout the country. Broadcasts are in Dari
Dari (Afghanistan)
Dari or Fārsī-ye Darī in historical terms refers to the Persian court language of the Sassanids. In contemporary usage, the term refers to the dialects of modern Persian language spoken in Afghanistan, and hence known as Afghan Persian in some Western sources. It is the term officially recognized...
, Pashto
Pashto language
Pashto , known as Afghani in Persian and Pathani in Punjabi , is the native language of the indigenous Pashtun people or Afghan people who are found primarily between an area south of the Amu Darya in Afghanistan and...
, English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, Uzbek
Uzbek language
Uzbek is a Turkic language and the official language of Uzbekistan. It has about 25.5 million native speakers, and it is spoken by the Uzbeks in Uzbekistan and elsewhere in Central Asia...
and many other languages.
The number of radio listeners are decreasing and are being slowly outnumbered by television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
. Of Afghanistan's 6 main cities, Kandahar
Kandahar
Kandahar is the second largest city in Afghanistan, with a population of about 512,200 as of 2011. It is the capital of Kandahar Province, located in the south of the country at about 1,005 m above sea level...
and Khost
Khost
Khost or Khowst is a city in eastern Afghanistan. It is the capital of Khost province, which is a mountainous region near Afghanistan's border with Pakistan...
have a lot of radio listeners. Kabul
Kabul
Kabul , spelt Caubul in some classic literatures, is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. It is also the capital of the Kabul Province, located in the eastern section of Afghanistan...
and Jalalabad
Jalalabad
Jalalabad , formerly called Adinapour, as documented by the 7th century Hsüan-tsang, is a city in eastern Afghanistan. Located at the junction of the Kabul River and Kunar River near the Laghman valley, Jalalabad is the capital of Nangarhar province. It is linked by approximately of highway with...
have moderate number of listeners. However, Mazar-E-Sharif and especially Herat
Herat
Herāt is the capital of Herat province in Afghanistan. It is the third largest city of Afghanistan, with a population of about 397,456 as of 2006. It is situated in the valley of the Hari River, which flows from the mountains of central Afghanistan to the Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan...
have very few radio listeners.
Postal service
In 1870, a central post officePost office
A post office is a facility forming part of a postal system for the posting, receipt, sorting, handling, transmission or delivery of mail.Post offices offer mail-related services such as post office boxes, postage and packaging supplies...
was established at Bala Hissar
Bala Hissar
Bala Hissar is an ancient fortress located in the city of Kabul, Afghanistan. The estimated date of construction is around the 5th century A.D. Bala Hissar sits to the south of the modern city centre at the tail end of the Kuh-e-Sherdarwaza Mountain...
in Kabul and a post office in the capital of each province. The service was slowly being expanded over the years as more postal offices were established in each large city by 1918. Afghanistan became member of the Universal Postal Union
Universal Postal Union
The Universal Postal Union is an international organization that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to the worldwide postal system. The UPU contains four bodies consisting of the Congress, the Council of Administration , the Postal Operations Council and the...
in 1928, and the postal administration elevated to the Ministry of Communication
Afghan Ministry of Communications
The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is an organ of the government of Afghanistan. Current communications minister is Amirzai Sangin....
in 1934. Civil war caused a disruption in issuing official stamps during the 1980s-90s war but in 1999 postal service was operating again. Postal services to/from Kabul worked remarkably well all throughout the war years. Postal services to/from Herat resumed in 1997. The Afghan government has reported to the UPU several times about illegal stamps being issued and sold in 2003 and 2007.
Afghanistan Post has been reorganizing the postal service in 2000s with the help of Pakistan Post
Pakistan Post
Pakistan Post is a state enterprise dedicated to providing wide range of postal products and public services in Pakistan. It is the largest postal service in the country...
. The Afghanistan Postal commission was formed to prepare a written policy for the development of the postal sector, which will form the basis of a new postal services law governing licensing of postal services providers. The project was expected to finish by 2008.