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Etisalat Afghanistan, a 100-percent owned subsidiary of Etisalat Telecommunications, UAE, signed an agreement with Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (ATRA) to provide telecommunication services in rural and far flung areas of the country.

As per the terms of this agreement, Etisalat (News - Alert) Afghanistan will carry out Rural Telecom Development project in 17 rural Districts in nine provinces by building and operating 23 BTS sites. The company subscriber base is approximately four million and its network currently is said to cover 29 provinces in Afghanistan.

The agreement was signed by Engineer A. Wakil Shergul, chairman of the ATRA Board, and Saeed Hamad Al Hamli, chief executive officer for Etisalat Afghanistan, in the presence of Barayalai Hassam, technical deputy minister; Sadaat, deputy minister administration of ATRA; members of the ATRA Board, along with other officials of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and Etisalat Afghanistan.

 This agreement is part of the third Telecommunication Development Fund (TDF (News - Alert)) project of Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Body in compliance with the provisions of Telecommunication Services Regulation Law. TDF was established to pave the grounds for the expansion of telecommunications services to remote villages and communities.

 “We aim to become a service provider of quality and choice for the people of Afghanistan and we are in process of expanding our services to all parts of Afghanistan. This agreement with Afghanistan Telecommunications Authority is in line with our commitment with the people and Government of Afghanistan to provide communications access to the un-served population residing in far flung and highly remote areas,” Saeed Hamad Al Hamli, chief executive officer at Etisalat Afghanistan, said in a statement.

Hamli also said that Etisalat Afghanistan has successfully won the bidding process of deployment of BTS sites and as a result shall be receiving $3. 4 million subsidy from TDF for provision of affordable voice telephony and other data services.