Afghan government spokesman Mawlawi Zabihullah Mujahid said 850 telecommunications antennas were activated countrywide over the past year as part of efforts to expand mobile coverage.
Speaking at the third press conference of the “Government in the Media Mirror” program, Mujahid said 350 of the antennas were installed in underserved and remote areas using the development budget of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, while the remaining 500 were funded by telecommunications companies.
He said 851 kilometers of fiber-optic network were also laid in various parts of the country during the same period. According to Mujahid, telecommunications companies, internet service providers and the ATRA authority have established a total of 2,932 telecommunications towers countrywide.
Mujahid said the expansion of telecommunications services in underserved and remote areas is still underway, with work continuing to activate another 150 antennas.
He added that 491,126 SIM cards were distributed over the past year to provide telecommunications services to returning Afghans.
Mujahid also said the expansion of the telecommunications market created direct and indirect employment opportunities for 184,000 people during the same period.