Afghanistan opens fibre-optic network

bealtine

Afghanistan opens fibre-optic network Wednesday 9 December 2009


The Afghanistan ministry of communications has officially opened a USD 70 million optical fibre project. Work on the project began in April 2007 and currently is 80 percent completed, with 17 provinces and 68 towns covered. The network is also connected to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Iran via fibre while Pakistan and Turkmenistan are set to be connected shortly.

Sponge Bob

The Afghanis have installed 10 times more fibre than Eamon Ryan has since he became minister at the same time , and in a warzone :eek:

http://www.mcit.gov.af/detail.asp?CatID=1&ContID=226

Lets have some Afghani vision so, I actually believe them more than I will ever believe a single word Ryan says. The DCENR in Ireland does not even have a vision page. Unsurprisingly may I say

http://www.mcit.gov.af/AbouttheMinistry/vision.asp

To enable Afghanistan to benefit further from Information and Communication Technologies by becoming part of the global information society while preserving Afghanistan’s cultural heritage. To promote national goals as well as in order to achieve a tolerant and vibrant Afghanistan, Afghanistan will use Communications and ICTs to improve Government and social services expeditiously and foster the rebuilding process, increase employment, create a vibrant private sector, reduce poverty and support underprivileged groups.

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Afghanistan’s vision for the future is focusing on the following scope of achievements:

• Wide coverage of services in all cities, towns and 5000 villages
• Improved quality, Lower tariffs (halved) in next 4 years
• Competitive environment with 5 telecom companies providing services in next 1 year
• National optical fiber project backbone completed providing high quality low cost ground based national and international connectivity in next 3 years
• Cumulative investments in telecom of over 1.5 billion in next 4 years
• 5 million phone users in next 4 years (20% of population)
• 50,000 jobs created in next 4 years
• Government revenues from telecom in next 10 years USD 2 billion

Mission

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) is the specialized governmental body of Afghanistan in the Communications and IT sector, established with the objective of implementing the Afghanistan Government policy in this sector.
The mission of the Ministry is to create solid grounds that will ensure the effective and efficient development of the telecommunication sector and transition to the Information Society in Afghanistan. Bringing Afghanistan to the Information Society is a strategic objective for the MCIT for 2006 - 2010. <
MCIT aims to provide telecommunications and IT services through its advantageous policy, transparent legal framework and considerable support to private sector to invest in the sector and provide services. The goal of this is to ensure the provision of possible best services with reasonable prices, expand and speed up the application of the Telecoms and IT systems in socio-economic development of Afghanistan.