etisalat Afghanistan's subscriber base expanded to three million in 27 provinces and achieved 24 per cent market share in three years, according to Saeed Al Hamli, CEO of etisalat Afghanistan.
The company's 2009 revenues have grown three times compared to 2008, the CEO told the annual general meeting held in Dubai yesterday, which was chaired by etisalat Chairman Mohammad Omran.
"We have invested US$300 million (Dh1,101.84m) directly or indirectly in Afghanistan and about 10,000 Afghans are supported by us and our distribution partners. We will continue to reach more areas of Afghanistan and introduce more voice and data services," he said.
Omran said etisalat's decision to go to Afghanistan in 2007 was important and strategic as "etisalat vision is always to enter countries and stay".
"Once we enter a market, we believe in offering continuous support to that market by investing in new technologies and infrastructure with the aim of deriving incremental gains over the life of our licence," he said.
"When we decided to invest in the telecommunications sector of Afghanistan, we were aware of the scale of the challenges and the opportunities that lie ahead, and it was the right decision to make. We are proud of the etisalat Afghanistan's achievements that have been accomplished in such a short period of time and look forward to offering more services to the Afghan people and to supporting this country as best way we can," said Omran.
"Etisalat has managed to accomplish in a short period of time what took other operators years to achieve. Now we see that the company's network has reached about 90 per cent in Afghanistan, despite the security issues and geographical conditions," said Kheyal Mohammed, Head of the Telecommunications and Information Technology Committee in the Afghan parliament.
Mohammad Sharif Ahmadza, Vice-President of Afghan Investment Support Agency said: "etisalat plays an important role in the investment sector of Afghanistan. Etisalat's part in this scenario is quite amazing." – Emirates Business 24|7
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