Telecom services in Daimirdad suspended

MAIDAN SHAHR (Pajhwok): Two mobile phone telecommunications companies — NTN and Etisalat — have suspended their services in the Daimirdad district of central Maidan Wardak province, officials said on Sunday.

The services had been halted since Saturday when cell phones stopped working in most parts of the district, the governor’s spokesman, Attaullah Khogyani, told Pajhwok Afghan News.

Technical equipment of both the companies had been installed on a tower in the district, where no security threats existed, he said.

According to Khogyani, officials managing the tower had run out of fuel and thus the tower had stopped working.

But provincial Telecommunications and Informational Technology Director Fazl Rahim told Pajhwok Afghan News the two companies wanted to stop their services in Daimirdad.

He said they would not allow the two companies to stop their services and take away their equipment from the district.

The director said he had shared the issue with the ministry concerned, calling for finding a solution.

Daimirdad district chief Din Mohammad Haqbin told Pajhwok Afghan News that if the two companies did not resume their services, government officials and residents both would face numerous problems.

Resident Arif Haqmal said Daimirdad was situated away from the provincial capital and if the suspension continued, it would create problems for local residents in every sphere of life.

MTN and Etisalat have so far said nothing about the suspension of their services in the town.

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