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TCIL: Rebuilding Afghanistan

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Voice&Data Bureau
New Update

Imagine the state of the communications network of Afghanistan–a country
that has been war-ravaged for more than 20 years now. The recent war has
completely snapped the telecom links of its cities with each other and of the
country with the outside world. After taking over as the head of the state,
Hamid Karzai’s foremost goal will obviously be to restore normalcy in
Afghanistan at the earliest. That can happen at a much faster pace if the
communications links are restored on a priority basis, so that one can
communicate one’s needs and the from one place to people at another location.

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As far as the connectivity between India and Afghanistan is concerned, the
international link of VSNL between India and Afghanistan has been affected as is
the case with most international links. Due to this, Inmarsat satellite phones
are becoming very popular in Afghanistan, particularly among embassies, media,
and government organizations, as presently this is the only means of
communication apart from Thuraya systems. It is estimated that more than 50
Inmarsat terminals are currently operational in Afghanistan, which are deployed
by the Indian agencies as the only source of international link between India
and Afghanistan. But it is surprising that all of them have been procured from
outside, as the Indian government bars the use of Inmarsat terminals by
corporates because only the government and PSUs can use it.

To restart the communications infrastructure, TCIL is sending a team to
assess the situation which will help in building the communications
infrastructure of Afghanistan, according to AS Bansal, CMD, Telecommunication
Consultants India Ltd (TCIL).

At present, according to ITU, Afghanistan has partial competition in local
services, fixed satellite and mobile satellite whereby it has a monopoly on the
long-distance front. Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) is providing
international telephone services from PCOs located in Kabul and Kandhar. AWCC
has installed digital switches in Kabul and Kandhar, which enable subscribers of
mechanical telephone exchanges to make and receive international and national
calls. As the exchanges are quite old (more than 40 years old) they are very
unreliable and even the call completion rate is on the extreme lower end.

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TCIL’s Afghanistan mission is a welcome step as it will help in increasing
the friendly relationship between the two countries. TCIL also has the advantage
of working in similar terrains and similar situations in about 50 countries of
the world. The company has the expertise of rehabilitating Kuwait’s telecom
network after the Gulf War by building the SDH and access network. TCIL also has
the experience of working in similar terrains in India like North East and Jammu
& Kashmir, says Bansal. The company has recently bagged the backbone and
telephone access network worth $22 million.

To begin with, Bansal suggests that Kabul, Kandhar, and one more city, should
be connected via a VSAT-based network or an aerial copper network, as it can be
deployed at the earliest and can form an important link for communication. After
setting the VSAT-based network, the existing network has to be overhauled and
the missing link has to be detected and corrected. But it can only happen with
the support from local companies and local people. Once these systems are
rectified, the Afghanistan government can think of deploying new digital
switches and provide their citizens with voice and data connectivity, and that
too with a good quality of service.

Pravin Prashant

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