TDF funds rural rollout

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communication & IT (MCIT) has signed agreements with three of the nation’s cellcos to install and manage 220 new base transceiver stations (BTS) in un-served rural areas.

The USD28 million project will be funded by the Telecommunication Development Fund (TDF), a universal access fund into which each telco must pay 2.5% of net revenues. Afghan Telecom will deploy the lion’s share of the towers with 195, whilst Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) and MTN Afghanistan will roll out nine and 16 respectively.

The new BTS are to be installed over the next 18 months and will cover an estimated 440,000 people.