Afghans Get Competition

NEW YORK -- Telephone Systems International (TSI) congratulates the Afghan Transitional Islamic Government and the Ministry of Communications on its October 5th decision to award a second license for GSM service in Afghanistan. The new licensee will be able to provide service throughout the country in competition with Afghan Wireless Communications Company (AWCC), a joint venture between TSI and the Ministry of Communications. "This announcement is a significant step forward for Afghanistan. The offered bids for this license represent measurable confidence in the future of the Afghan telecommunications market, which we believe substantiate our own continuing investment," TSI President Ehsan Bayat said. "No doubt, the surprisingly strong consumer response to the launch of our GSM services in Kabul and other cities over the last six months was a strong factor in attracting bidders." AWCC provides GSM wireless phone service to more than 10,000 customers in Kabul, Herat, and Mazur-i-Sherif, and is set to launch services soon in Kandahar and Jalalabad. AWCC's network is the first terrestrial wireless system to operate in Afghanistan and is ready to accommodate competing service providers. The AWCC network already interconnects to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in several locations where such facilities exist, as well as to an international gateway. Telephone Systems International Inc. (TSI)