About Afghan Wireless
Founded by Afghan-American businessman Ehsan Bayat, Afghan Wireless Communication Company overcame significant challenges on its way to becoming Afghanistan’s first wireless telecommunications company. Through Telephone Systems International, Inc., which he founded in 1998, Mr. Bayat began building the nation’s first modern phone system only weeks after the fall of the Taliban regime. Previous efforts to develop a similar system had been stymied by the trade embargo against the Taliban, and Telephone Systems International was able to launch Afghan Wireless only after the signing of the Bonn Agreement, which created new opportunities for investment and growth in the war-torn country.
Prior to the establishment of Afghan Wireless, there were only approximately 20,000 telephone lines in Afghanistan, and only those phones inside the capital of Kabul were connected to the global network. Telephone Systems International worked directly with the Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in forming Afghan Wireless as a joint venture to develop and deploy a GSM network. Initially serving government officials and aid workers, by 2002, the network had begun rapid expansion; nine weeks after construction had commenced on Kabul’s wireless infrastructure, President Hamid Karzai made an international call to Germany over the Afghan Wireless network.
The remainder of 2002 saw the opening of the country’s first Internet café and the establishment of base stations in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kandahar. A decade later, Afghan Wireless has become one of the largest privately held companies in Afghanistan, employing more than 5,000 citizens who operate in throughout the country’s 34 provinces.
Prior to the establishment of Afghan Wireless, there were only approximately 20,000 telephone lines in Afghanistan, and only those phones inside the capital of Kabul were connected to the global network. Telephone Systems International worked directly with the Afghan Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in forming Afghan Wireless as a joint venture to develop and deploy a GSM network. Initially serving government officials and aid workers, by 2002, the network had begun rapid expansion; nine weeks after construction had commenced on Kabul’s wireless infrastructure, President Hamid Karzai made an international call to Germany over the Afghan Wireless network.
The remainder of 2002 saw the opening of the country’s first Internet café and the establishment of base stations in Kabul, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif, and Kandahar. A decade later, Afghan Wireless has become one of the largest privately held companies in Afghanistan, employing more than 5,000 citizens who operate in throughout the country’s 34 provinces.