Ericsson in talks for second Afghan telco contract

Dubai

Ericsson is negotiations to take a management contract at a second telecommunications operator in Afghanistan, a company executive said this week.

Ericsson already handles the network and IT operations of MTN after signing a managed services agreement with the Afghan telco in 2012.

Tarek Saadi, President of Ericsson, North Middle East Region, told Gulf News, on the sidelines of Gitex Technology Week on Monday, discussions with the second operator were serious; however, an announcement is unlikely to come until the first half of 2015.

He declined to state who the company Ericsson is in talks with but confirmed it was not Etisalat.

According to the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA) website there are six mobile operators in Afghanistan. The other four are Afghan Telecom, Wasel Telecom, AWCC and Roshan.

Ericsson is bullish on Afghanistan, Saadi said, despite more than a decade of instability with many rural areas still controlled by the Taliban.

As of March 2014, Afghanistan’s mobile coverage reaches over 89 per cent of the country’s population of 30 million, according to ATRA.

“We are seeing the uptake in the mobile and mobile data traffic,” Saadi said.