[3] 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.

The Ministry of Communications with international consulting aid developed a modern telecommunications and Internet sector policy published in October 2002.

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 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.