The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (, ) (MCIT) is an organ of the

government of Afghanistan The government of Afghanistan, officially called the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and informally known as the Taliban government, is the central government of Afghanistan, a unitary state. Under the leadership of the Taliban, the government is ...

. Current communications minister is Najibullah Haqqani. The Ministry was subjected to a suicide attack in 2019. The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology provides an

annual report An annual report is a comprehensive report on a company's activities throughout the preceding year. Annual reports are intended to give shareholders and other interested people information about the company's activities and financial performance. ...

to inform the public of advancements in Afghanistan's technological sector. At the end of 2001, there were an estimated 35,000 phones working in all of Afghanistan serving a population of 27 million, one of the lowest teledensities in the world. Calls could only be completed over

satellite A satellite or an artificial satellite is an object, typically a spacecraft, placed into orbit around a celestial body. They have a variety of uses, including communication relay, weather forecasting, navigation ( GPS), broadcasting, scient ...

facilities and only among Afghanistan's six major urban areas. The Ministry of Communications with international consulting aid developed a modern telecommunications and Internet sector policy published in October 2002. That policy framework is credited with laying the foundation for transparent, private sector-led competition. As of November 2009, there are more than 10.4 million mobile subscribers, a 300-fold increase in seven years. More than $1.2 billion has been invested in the sector. In 2003 internationally funded advisers assisted with the drafting of a new Telecom Law which was adopted by Presidential Decree in December 2005. An independent regulator was appointed June 2006 and launched competitive tenders to license new telecom services. The telecom sector leads

economic reconstruction Economic reconstruction is a process for creating a proactive vision of economic change. The most basic idea is that problems in the economy, such as deindustrialization, environmental decay, outsourcing, industrial incompetence, poverty and a ...

with four mobile service providers which cover 75% of the country with over 2,400 towers in more than 250 of the largest urban areas. 50,000

direct and indirect jobs Investments into an industry or project can produce temporary and long-term employment. The resulting jobs are typically categorized as being one of three types. A direct job is employment created to fulfill the demand for a product or service. An ...

were created by the sector. There are 15 Internet Service Providers (ISP) licensed and operating in 20 major urban areas. Afghan Telecom, an Afghan government telecom company, was incorporated in September 2006; an 80% stake in the company is being privatized from 2008. Currently, there are an estimated 45,000 landlines and about 10,400,000 cellphone subscribers. While a number of ISPs offer services, the number of users has not been precisely researched yet.

April 2019 attack

On April 20, 2019, a

suicide attack A suicide attack (also known by a wide variety of other names, see below) is a deliberate attack in which the perpetrators knowingly sacrifice their own lives as part of the attack. These attacks are a form of murder–suicide that is ofte ...

on the Ministry ended with all five attackers dead, while four civilians and three police officers were killed. ISIS-K later claimed responsibility, which caused the evacuation of two government ministries.

List of ministers

* Masoom Stanakzai, * Acting Minister Eng. Amirzai Sangeen , * Eng. Amirzai Sangeen nominated again 20120215 * Eng. Amirzai Sangeen Minister of Communication and Information Technology (20120305-20140930) * Eng. Amirzai Sangeen Acting Minister of Communication and Information Technology (20141001) * acting Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology Hessamudin Hessam (20141209) * Abdul Razaq Wahidi (20150418, 20161115 impeached) * Shahzad Gul Aryoubi Shahzad Gul Aryobee (20170807, 20171204 confirmed - 20190523) * Mohammad Fahim Hashemi (20190524, 20200831) * Nesar Ahmad Ghoryani (20200831, 20201121) * Mawlawi Najibullah Haqqani Hidayatullah (20210709)

References

External links

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) of Afghanistan – Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afghan Ministry Of Communications Government ministries of Afghanistan, Communications and Information Technology Communications in Afghanistan

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

April 2019 attack

List of ministers

See also

References

External links