[16 June 2005]
Afghanistan to invite bids for building optical fiber ring
(Xinhua) - In a new step to modernize telecommunication system in the post-war Afghanistan, the government has invited bids to construct a nationwide optical fiber ring in the country, communication minister Amirzai Sangin said Wednesday.
"The ministry of communication invites sealed bids for building a nationwide fiber optic ring telecommunications backbone network in Afghanistan," he told journalists at a press conference.
Interested companies, he noted, should submit their applications before 10 am of 10th August 2005.
The three-phase 60-million US dollar project covering 3,200 km, the minister added, would link all major Afghan cities to capital Kabul as well as neighboring countries.
"This project is designed to construct a fiber optic backbone linking the main road system in the country and will consist of a main Kabul-Kandahar-Heart-Mazar-e-Sharif-kabul loop," said the minister.
Work on the new project, the optical fiber cable ring, will begin by December and is likely to be completed within three years. Only 40,000 of some 27 million Afghans, according to the Minster had access to telephone three years ago while currently 900,000 people in this post-war nation enjoy telephone facilities.
Presently, two companies ROSHAN and AFGHAN WIRELESS are running cellular phones in Afghanistan while 80 more firms including ArasKom of Egypt and KBI of Germany have applied to obtain licenses to establish two more GSM system for which the government agreed.
- Article submitted at 11:14 AM (CST) on 6/16/2005
Afghan News Network - © Copyright 2005