UAE firm launches phone network in Afghanistan

By Hamid Shalizi

KABUL, Aug 29 (Reuters) - United Arab Emirates company Emirates Telecommunications ETEL.AD (Etisalat) began operating in Afghanistan on Wednesday becoming the fifth mobile phone service provider and one of the biggest foreign investors.

With an investment of $300 million, Etisalat's mobile phone network will initially cover Afghanistan's main cities, said the company's CEO for Afghanistan, Salem Al Kendi.

"We believe that Etisalat has one of the largest single private investments in Afghanistan," Kendi said, referring to the period since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

About three million of Afghanistan's estimated 25 million people have mobile phones, according to Afghan government officials.

"It is a big achievement and success not only for Afghanistan, but to the entire world," Afghan Telecommunication Minister Amirzai Sangin said of Etisalat's launch.

Etisalat, the third-largest Arab telecom firm by market value, joins four other telecommunication companies operating in the country.

These companies have invested some $800 million in the Afghan telecommunications sector and the government has earned $100 million from them in the past year in tax and from issuing licences, he said.

Lack of infrastructure, red tape, rampant corruption and insecurity in parts of Afghanistan have all contributed to slow pace of private investment since the Taliban were ousted.

((Writing by Sayed Salahuddin; Kabul newsroom, tel: + 93 799 335 285)) Keywords: AFGHAN TELEPHONE/

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