Mobile Telecom in Afghanistan

At CTIA this morning I got to hear a wonderful presentation by Karim Khoja, the CEO of Telecom Development Company Afghanistan Ltd, more commonly known by their wireless brand name Roshan Telecom.  Here are some of my notes:

Afghans:

• 25M population (up from 22M a year ago due to returning refugees) (this differs from the CIA's 31M).
• Per-capita GDP US $240 (the CIA uses purchasing price parity and lists US $800)
• Median age 17 years
• Life expectancy 43 years

Telecom in 2002:

• 20K fixed lines
• 30K mobile phones (in 4 cities only)
• 35K satellite phones

Telecom today:

• 2 mobile operators (3rd license just granted)
• > 1M mobile subscribers
• > 150 towns with coverage
• Teledensity is 4.2 and rising rapidly

Roshan:

• Service launched summer 2003.
• Now largest mobile operator in Afghanistan.
• Private company owned by an international consortium formed by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED),  Monaco Telecom International (MTI) and US-based MCT Corp.
• 700 direct employees, most of whom were living in refugee camps three years ago.  25% are women.
• 170 sales points;  >1500 dealers (selling phones, SIMs, scratch cards, etc.); 5000 distributors
• 99% of subscribers are pre-paid
• Recently opened a new call center that they expect to grow to 120 agents (5 languages)

Some of his anecdotes were amazing.  To build a typical cell site they first have to clear land mines and then build an access road.  Then they install redundant diesel generators and substantial fuel storage as there is no electric power grid. Today, Roshan's combined electrical generating capacity is the largest in Afghanistan.

Rural cell sites have armed guards to protect against theft of fuel. However, they've never had a cell site attacked - even when there is fighting nearby, all sides understand the benefit of communications.

They've had to train all of their staff from scratch. For example for engineers, they look for Afghans who can speak English and know how to turn on a PC, but they expect to teach everything else in their training program. It's similar for other positions. They've also developed their own network of health clinics for employees and their families.

Roshan has fostered the emergence of consumer marketing and advertising industries in Afghanistan.  Their name was selected via focus groups (it means "light" in the Pashtu and Dari languages and implies "hope" ). More recently they have established one of the most widely recognized (in Afghanistan) corporate slogans "Nazdik Shodan" ("bringing you closer").

The Roshan scratch card has become a third form of currency after the afghani (AFA) and the US dollar.

His top problems are corruption and security, but he is very optimistic for Afghanistan.

All in all, it's an impressive start and Karim Khoja's optimism was infectious.