Leapfrogging to Mobile Telephony

Printer-friendly VersionEmail to a Friend

ADB is helping Afghanistan's largest telecom operator develop a nationwide mobile phone infrastructure as well as expand cellular services.

In a culture where the sexes are often segregated, Roshan supports women-only call centers

Roshan has set up public call offices countrywide where less affluent people can make a call

Telemedicine enables long-distance diagnosis of medical conditions

A patient at the French Medical Institute for Children, which is bringing innovative high-tech facilities to Afghanistan

Health professionals feel less isolated with video links, which are also being used for medical education

Decades of conflict devastated Afghanistan's already challenged communications systems. Fixed telephone lines are virtually absent in a country with rugged terrain—soaring mountains and wide deserts—as well as limited electricity and poor roads. Postal services don't work well, either, especially with weak demand—the illiteracy rate is roughly 70%. An unstable security situation further contributes to a difficult environment.

Thus, the arrival of mobile phones in Afghanistan represented a telecoms revolution, enabling the country to leapfrog conventional fixed line systems straight to 21st century satellite technology.

As a result, families that have been displaced by the conflict can remain connected. Commerce and industry can grow as business owners are better able to search for the best prices and are better informed as to when goods are arriving. Isolated communities can be more integrated into the economy. In a country where remittances play a vital role in the economy, cellular technology enables people to carry out basic banking functions.

Demand for mobile phones was strong from the outset, but service rollout was constrained by limited financing options in Afghanistan's challenging political and security environment.

Telecom Development Company Afghanistan—operating under the name Roshan, which means "light" and "hope" in the two national languages—is the country's largest operator with over 2.6 million subscribers. Roshan has been able to expand its mobile network infrastructure nationwide as well as improve its range of services with an assistance package from ADB's private sector operations. An initial loan of $35 million in late 2004 was followed by a $40 million loan in mid-2006. The second loan was accompanied by a complementary financing scheme of up to $30 million and a political risk guarantee of up to $15 million. In July 2008, ADB provided a third loan of $60 million and a $10 million political risk guarantee.

"The development impact of mobile phones has spread across the country and through all levels of society," says Craig Steffensen, ADB's Country Director for Afghanistan. " Having access to information and knowledge is as critical for the education of the young—almost half the population is under 15—as it is for the social development of women." He notes that such communications promote better understanding—and reduce misunderstandings—in a society that is ethnically and linguistically diverse.

Innovative Services

With expansion, Roshan has been able to lower the cost of its mobile phone services, increasing their accessibility to the poor.

As an example of innovative services, Roshan introduced M-Paisa, designed as a mobile wallet. M-Paisa enables the transfer of funds by mobile phone in a quick, easy, safe, and cost-effective way for peer-to-peer transfer, repayment of microfinance loans, purchase of airtime, and salary disbursement. This has brought financial transaction services to a country where only 3% of the population has a bank account. Users can access the service at the push of a button and face less of the risk involved with physical money transfers.

Countrywide, Roshan has set up public call offices—places to call for those who do not have their own mobile phone. Apart from offering a service to the poor, this scheme offers an opportunity for Afghans to learn how to run their own business. Roshan has partnered with First Microfinance Bank in a scheme under which aspiring entrepreneurs can borrow capital to set up a public call office.

Roshan also supports women-only public call offices. This is important in a culture in which the sexes are often segregated.

In another example of using innovative technology, Roshan is installing solar photovoltaic panels to power telecom towers, thus reducing diesel fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In 2009, Roshan plans to launch Trade Net, which will provide farmers with market prices through text messaging. This will allow farmers and traders to secure the best prices possible for their crops, enabling them to increase their incomes.

Telemedicine: Linking Health Workers with Experts

On a wider level, the provision of mobile telecom services is also helping improve the delivery of essential services such as health care, education, and security.

"Where possible Roshan focuses on using its technology and know-how to bring both innovative social solutions in balanced and culturally sensitive ways to address problems," says Shainoor Khoja, Roshan's Director of Corporate Affairs.

Roshan has pioneered a telemedicine project that links doctors in Kabul, as well as a rural hospital in Bamyan, to more experienced staff at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. The Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development is Roshan's majority shareholder. This potentially life-saving telemedicine project could play a key role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan's health care system.

Dr. Khalid Ansari, a radiologist at the FrenchMedical Institute for Children (FMIC), uses telemedicine to transmit imagery from the hospital's magnetic resonance-imaging scanner to colleagues in Karachi. "If we have a complicated diagnosis, it takes just one click to put the pictures on our server and send them to the Aga Khan Hospital, which can send us back a report within 24 hours," he says. This provides patients with expert diagnosis without the need for an arduous journey.

Recently, FMIC established a connection with a provincial hospital in remote Bamyan, which has 14 physicians serving more than 600,000 people. In an interview by video link, moments after a class on infection control, hospital manager Matthew Rodieck said, "We are very isolated here, physically cut off. But if one of our specialists comes across a case that's difficult to understand, he or she can bring the patient to the telemedicine room and consult with a physician in Kabul or Karachi."

As well as helping diagnose medical cases, the link can also be used for medical education. The course on infection control connected students in Bamyan, Kabul, and Karachi. Videoconferencing equipment also enables doctors and nurses in Bamyan and Kabul to sit in on lectures delivered in Karachi.

In Afghanistan's isolated areas, where traditions and infrastructure have changed little over centuries, mobile technology is connecting people and changing lives one step at a time.