1 April 2007MoC1 Annual Report 1385 Policies, Plans and Progress Amirzai Sangin Minister of Communications & IT Date: 1 April 2007

1 April 2007 MoC2 Content Telecom status in 2002 Telecom and ICT Policies 5- Year Plan Achievements till date Vision for Next 3 Years Major Actions for International Recognitions and Awards

1 April 2007 MoC3 Status in 2002 There were less than 15,000 digital lines in Afghanistan working locally only No national or international connectivity Pakistan country codes was used in many border areas Music, TV and Internet were forbidden Afghans needed to travel to neighboring countries to make or receive phone calls

1 April 2007 MoC4 Telecom & ICT Policies In 1382 the MoC adopted Telecom and ICT policies with the aim to promote rapid telecom development Through private sector investments Issuing licenses through international bidding Preparing the right legal framework Creation of transparent regulator

1 April 2007 MoC5 5 Year Development Plan Based on the policy, the MoC also prepared a 5 Year Plan ( ) The 5-Year Plan gives detailed action plan for each year in 5 major areas: Development of private sector and regulation Development and privatisation of Afghan Telecom Development of the ICT sector Capacity building of the MoC staff and public Development, corporatisation and privatisation of the Afghan Post

1 April 2007 MoC6 Major Achievements Legal Framework Telecomm Law passed in Dec 2005 Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) established 5 Board Members appointed in June 2006 Organisational build up is ongoing ATRA is monitoring and controlling the telecom sector to ensure compliance of the law and license conditions

1 April 2007 MoC7 Major Achievements GSM Licenses GSM license issued to Roshan in 1382 and AWCC license renewed as per new conditions 3 rd GSM license issued to Areeba in 1384 for 40.1MUS$, operations in 46 cities/towns 4 th GSM license issued to Etisalat in 1385, 40.1MUS$, starts operations in May 2007 in 8 cities

1 April 2007 MoC8 Major Achievements Regional Licenses 3 regional licenses issued in Wasel Telecom: Balkh, Kunduz and Jozjan. Inauguration in 21 districts on 21 April 2007 Ertebat Telecom: Heart Shaheen Telecom: Logar, Paktya and Khost

1 April 2007 MoC9 Major Achievements Development Projects 1385 Total of 15 projects. 6 projects completed, 7 projects near completion, 2 projects are long term % of development budget and 87% of ordinary budget spent

1 April 2007 MoC10 Major Achievements Rollout of Services End 1385, 60-70% of population has access to services Total number of base stations is 1067 End 1386, rising to 1857, increasing coverage to % of population

1 April 2007 MoC11 Major Achievements Total of over 2.5 million Phone Users 2.5 users in 1385, doubling compared with ,000 new users every month By end 1386, expected users almost 4 million

1 April 2007 MoC12 Major Achievements Penetration

1 April 2007 MoC13 Major Achievements Government Revenues in US$ million

1 April 2007 MoC14 Major Achievements Over $ 700 million of Investments in the Telecom Sector Investment increases by 50% annually

1 April 2007 MoC15 Major Achievements Reduction of Prices Sim card prices down from US$30 to US$ 5 Cost of calls to other networks down from 30 c/minute to 9c/minute Per second billing introduced resulting in 20-25% reduction of call costs Increased competition results in further reduction of prices

1 April 2007 MoC16 Major Achievements Job Creation Over 40,000 jobs in telecom sector Over 8000 direct employment by telecom companies Over 35,000 indirect jobs in form of sales channels, subcontractors, telecom services companies such as towers, civil works etc

1 April 2007 MoC17 Major Achievements Capacity Building Establishment of ICT Institute ongoing New buildings under construction, Laboratories, curriculum development, training for trainers ongoing 1386 start with first batch Annually 50 engineers 6 Cisco Academies established across the country and 3 more planned for 1386

1 April 2007 MoC18 Major Achiements ICT Name of MoC changed to MCIT Total of 15 ISPs licenses issued Current estimate is over 500,000 Internet users Internet services are available to Gov, NGOs, Companies and the public

1 April 2007 MoC19 Major Achievements Post

1 April 2007 MoC20 Vission for Next 3 Years Expansion of coverage of telecom services to 90% of population (currently 50-60%) Increase of phone users to over 5 millions Reduction of usage costs to at least half of current level Investments rising to USD 1.5 Billions Total jobs over 70,000 ICT becomes engine of economic development

1 April 2007 MoC21 Main Actions for Expansion of Digital Network Expansion of 150,000 digital lines in 5 major cities- Kabul, Kandahar, Mazar, Jalalabad, Kunduz, US$ 40 million Expansion of digital lines in Heart, US$ 15 million Contracts signed, project under implementation, expected date of completion is 1 st Quarter 1387

1 April 2007 MoC22 Main Actions for National Optical Fibre Backbone Network National Optical Fibre Network, in the form of a ring along national highways, Kabul-Ghazni- Kandahar-Herat-Mazar- Samangan-Baghlan-Kabul Connecting to all neighboring countries, Important infrastructure project for long term communication needs of the country and region Project cost is USD 65 million Contract signed, project under implementation and completion date is end 1387

1 April 2007 MoC23 Main Actions for Telecom Development Fund Telecom Development Fund established in 2002 for expansion of telecom services in rural areas. Operators pay 2.5% of their revenues to the TDF Currently about USD9 million in TDF and we expect additional $10M in 2007

1 April 2007 MoC24 Main Actions for ICT Development Establishment of National Data Centre Establishment of ICT Council Implementation of key e-Government projects for the Government

1 April 2007 MoC25 Main Actions for Postal Services Modernisation of postal services Introduction of new services such as express mail services, money transfer Corporatisation of the Afghan Post

1 April 2007 MoC26 International Recognitions and Awards Visionary of the Year Award 2006 from ICF, USA WB Film on Telecom progress in Afghanistan shown in Bonn in international conference as example of global best practice Positive articles in Economist, NY Post, Herald Tribune etc Invitation to give speech in GSM Association Conference in Barcelona