Wednesday, August 24, 2011 – According to officials in Afghanistan Ministry of Telecommunication, two illegal telecommunication networks have been traced and eliminated by Telecommunications Ministry.
It is said that the two telecommunication networks were operating illegally in Afghanistan.
Khair Mohammad Faizi, Member of the telecommunications services monitor Council on Tuesday said, the two networks were being operated by individuals from Iran, Pakistan and 2 Afghans.
Mr. Faizi further added, the two networks were secretly operating in capital Kabul and Pul-e-Khumri, northern Baghlan province without obtaining a legal license from the Afghan government.
He also said, the network which was operating with three telecommunication equipments in Kabul and had the capacity to issue up to 300 Sim Cards.
He said, the network which was operated by an Iranian and an Afghan individual were illegally providing international call services with the help of the telecommunication equipments.
He said, the two individuals managed to escape and are being tracked by the Afghan security forces.
Mr. Khair Mohammad Faizi said, the second network was also illegally operating in Pul-e-Khumri, northern Baghlan province, with a lower capacity than the first network. He said, the second network was also having three network equipments.
The second network was illegally operated by an Afghan and a Pakistani individual, Mr. Faizi said.
He said, the Afghan government and private telecommunication have sustained major losses due to the illegal operations of the two networks.
The officials also expressed concerns over the illegal use of the networks and said, the militants might have used the networks for the insurgency activities, and for tracing government officials’ calls.
This is not the first time that illegal telecommunication networks have been eliminated in Afghanistan.
The Telecommunication Ministry, have seized and closed a number of other telecommunication networks in the past, who were operating illegally.
