TMCnews Featured Article

Roshan’s growth – both in number of SIM cards sold and active customer-base – is fueled by its focus on innovation.

In the past few years, the Afghanistan operator tried to address the individual needs and aspirations of its diverse customer base through market and regional segmentation, a range of voice and data products and services, and superior network quality.

Roshan's nationwide network now reaches over 230 cities and towns across all 34 provinces in Afghanistan, covering over 60 percent of the population.

“Reaching this milestone demonstrates how far we have come towards reaching our goal of connecting people and bringing Afghanistan into the 21st century,” said Karim Khoja, chief executive officer of Roshan, in a statement.

“In 2003, when we started operations, less than 100,000 people had access to a phone. Afghanistan was truly landlocked. Since then, Roshan has been proud to play a leading role in using mobile phone technology as a critical tool in driving socio-economic development of the country,” Khoja added.

The company’s is planning to ensure that within the next five years, every Afghan has access to a mobile phone. Its vision is to serve as a catalyst for change, supporting Afghans as we build a brighter tomorrow for the country.

Roshan's customer base has increased by more than 30 percent in the last year, with the addition of more than one million active customers since October 2010.

Though Afghanistan remains among the fastest growing mobile phone markets in the world, with some 15 million total customers, the county’s mobile penetration rate is still 35 percent.

Recently, Roshan announced that it selected Lotus Solutions and Services, a division of Asia Consultancy Group, to extend mobile service to hard-to-reach regions in Afghanistan. Airspan Networks provided the backhaul, while ip.access, a manufacturer of picocell and femtocell infrastructure solutions, supplied the GSM/EDGE access controllers and Deltenna delivered the antenna.

Want to learn more about the latest in communications and technology? Then be sure to attend ITEXPO West 2011, taking place Sept. 13-15, 2011, in Austin, Texas. ITEXPO (News - Alert) offers an educational program to help corporate decision makers select the right IP-based voice, video, fax and unified communications solutions to improve their operations. It's also where service providers learn how to profitably roll out the services their subscribers are clamoring for – and where resellers can learn about new growth opportunities. To register, click here.