Nimroz residents irked by low quality telecom service

ZARANJ (Pajhwok): Some residents in southwestern Nimroz province have complained against the low quality services of telecommunication companies and demanded improvement while relevant officials said efforts were underway to address the existing telecommunication issues.

Fatimah, the resident of Chakhansour district told Pajhwok Afghan News she and her family members used Roshan SIM Cards but from the past two months they face problems when they talk on the phone.

Establishing contact is difficult in the first step and when contact is established then the voice could not be heard properly, she said.

She said last week her mother was sick and in order to take her to the hospital she said that she tried over 10 times to call her brother but the contact was not established.

“In Chakhansour district the Roshan Network is not working, sometimes AWCC and Etisalat also don’t work,” she complained.

“I spent 50 afs to talk for two minutes the remaining amount is wasted on unsuccessful contacts,” she said.

She asked relevant officials to communicate with telecommunication companies in order to resolve this problem.

Shah Wali Baloch, the resident of Kang district, said apart from Roshan, no other telecommunication was functioning in Kang district and people had been facing several problems in this regard.

He said: “I live in Droishik village and no telecommunication network is functioning here, last week I travelled to five villages to inform relatives about a wedding party and it was costly for me.”

He said most people in Kang district used Iranian Telecommunication Company Irannasal SIM cards to establish contact and if it is a one sided contact then it is very costly.

Irannasal established strong towers in the border area which disseminate signal deep inside Afghanistan too.

Syed Abdul Aziz, head of the Afghanistan Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (ATRA), acknowledge low quality telecommunication service in Nimroz and added: “The low quality of telecommunication networks in Nimroz province was due to surge of Iranian telecommunication networks which has strong signals that covered a large area.”

He added, the problem of telecommunication networks in Kang district, which is located at the zero point on the border with Iran, is most noticeable, but the people of King have not yet submitted any application to the Department of Communications to resolve this problem.

ATRA Head said In Zaranj, the communication networks, wireless connections are good, but in the districts, because of the presence of many Iranian networks, the signal is weak.

He said the lack of telecommunication network sites as one of the main reasons for the poor quality of telecommunication services in this province and said: “We are trying to add one site in each district in coordination with Roshan and Afghan Wireless companies, and the responsible companies have also given their satisfaction.”

Currently, AWCC has 24 sites, Roshan 20 because these two networks have more customers in Nimroz.

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