Telecommunications Industry Continues to Improve

The telecommunications industry in Afghanistan is one of the bright spots of the Afghan economy. Over 89% of Afghanistan has cell phone coverage. Most of the population (about 30 million) has access to cell phones. The banking industry has been revolutionized by financial transactions by cell phone - helping the economy improve and reducing corruption in the military and government. There are six mobile operators in Afghanistan: MTN, Etisalat, AWCC, Roshan, Afghan Telecom, and Wasel Telecom. Ericsson, a telecommunications company, currently provides network and IT operations services to MTN and is on the verge of providing the same services to another Afghan telco. Read more in "Ericsson in talks for second Afghan telco contract", Gulf News, October 14, 2014.