MoTIT activates 250 new telecom sites in two years

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MoTIT) says 250 new telecom sites were established during the past two years in far-flung areas where people had no access to telecom services.

MoTIT spokesman Inayatullah Alokozai told Pajhwok Afghan News that 250 new telecom towers and sites were erected in different parts of the country in the past two years.

He said residents of the areas where the new telecom sites were activated had previously no access to telecom services.

During this period, services of one thousand telecom sites were extended to 24 hours in different provinces, he added.

According to him, these sites were previously  inactive or active for a few hours in 24 hours.

“The ministry is working on a plan to activate 300 more telecom towers in areas where people currently lack access to the service”.

Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) technical teams always monitor and evaluate telecom networks’ services to ensure people are provided standard services, Alokozai said.

He said: “The quality of telecommunication networks’ service is evaluated with the help of mobile devices across the country to know if their quality is good or bad.”

Efforts are underway to improve the quality of telecom services, Alokozai added.

On the other hand, residents of some areas of capital Kabul are complaining about low-quality of telecom services.

Abdul Rahman, a resident of Darul Aman area of Kabul city, told Pajhwok that the internet and voice services of telecom networks were weak in their area.

He said: “The quality of internet is very low in our area, the internet is not working properly and when I have to contact someone, I leave the house to use the internet.”

He asked officials concerned to pay attention to improving the quality of telecommunication networks services in the country.

Meanwhile, Sibghatullah, a resident of 19^th police district of Kabul, told Pajhwok that telecom services in their area were not satisfactory.

Last month, residents of northern Balkh province also complained  to Pajhwok Afghan News about low-quality internet services in the province.

Residents of many other provinces had also complained about inferior quality telecom services in their areas and had demanded solution to the problem.

kk/ma