A number of residents of Badakhshan Province have complained about poor internet services and disruptions to telecommunications SIM cards in several of the province’s districts. They say that limited and irregular access to the internet and telecommunications services has created serious difficulties for people’s daily lives and economic activities.
Speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, the residents say that telecommunications problems, particularly in the remote districts of Badakhshan, have affected the lives of employed people, traders, and others, making daily communication and the conduct of their work difficult.
According to them, residents of the five districts of Darwaz have been forced, due to a lack of access to telecommunications services, to buy Tajikistani SIM cards at very high prices, even up to 20,000 Afghanis. They add that the internet packages for these SIM cards are also very expensive, placing a greater financial burden on families and traders.
Nawid (pseudonym), a resident of Badakhshan Province, complains about the sluggishness of telecommunications services. He says that even in the provincial capital, the internet and the services of telecommunications companies do not function properly, and that residents of many districts of Badakhshan face serious problems in accessing the internet and telecommunications services. According to him, residents of the province cannot easily communicate with friends and family members abroad, and they are forced to travel long routes for hours to reach the city, the hills, or the mountains, from where they can contact their families.
This Badakhshan resident says: “Residents of the five districts of Darwaz buy Tajikistani SIM cards from the joint market at an extremely exorbitant price, around 15,000 to 20,000 Afghanis, and use the internet of that country. Besides buying the SIM cards at a high price, the internet packages are also very costly for them.”
Nawid adds: “Even in the center of Badakhshan, the internet and telecommunications SIM cards do not work properly most of the time. Even when the internet is active, it can only be used for WhatsApp and Facebook. But for other tasks, such as setting up and filling out forms, uploading files, downloading software, searching on Google, downloading videos, and using YouTube, the internet is practically unresponsive. Our request to the Taliban officials is to resolve the problems with the internet and SIM card services so that this fundamental problem of the people is solved.”
Taqwa (pseudonym), another resident of Badakhshan Province, says that weak internet and the inefficiency of telecommunications services, particularly in remote areas of the province, are considered one of the serious problems facing the residents of Badakhshan. According to him, in some cases the internet speed drops so low that even opening a simple web page is difficult. Likewise, in a number of areas, phone calls do not connect properly, and residents have to try repeatedly to make a call lasting just a few minutes.
This Badakhshan resident says: “Unfortunately, the residents of several areas in Badakhshan are still deprived of the most basic telecommunications services. It is truly regrettable that in the age of technology and the ever-growing expansion of communications, a young person in Badakhshan should be deprived of educational opportunities, access to information, and equal chances for advancement because of the lack of quality internet. The people of Badakhshan are not demanding a special privilege. They only want to have access to quality internet and standard telecommunications services like other citizens of the country. This demand is not an extra privilege, but a fundamental right of the residents of this province.”
Jawid (pseudonym), a resident of Raghistan District in Badakhshan Province, also complains about widespread telecommunications problems and poor internet services in this district. According to him, currently only the Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) network is active in this district, but even this network is cut off most of the time, for no clear reason, for long periods, even three to four consecutive days. This situation has created serious problems for residents, particularly for employed people and traders, and has disrupted their economic activities and daily communications.
This Badakhshan resident says: “It has been about three years since I have been working as a money exchanger in Raghistan District of Badakhshan, and during this time I have constantly faced serious telecommunications and internet problems. In this district, only the AWCC network SIM card is usable, but even this network is sometimes cut off for three to four consecutive days without any clear reason. This situation has created many problems for me and disrupts my communications and my commercial and economic activities. On the other hand, the internet speed is also very low and is practically unusable for most of the day.”
Yasir (pseudonym), a resident of Badakhshan Province and a student at Kabul University, says that whenever he returns to Badakhshan during winter vacations or other holidays, he cannot even communicate properly with his classmates and university friends because of the lack of internet and disruptions in the telecommunications network, which has made following his coursework and exchanging information difficult for him.
This student says: “Despite several telecommunications networks operating in the country, only one network is usable in the area where we live, and even that one, most of the time, is unable to provide services and make calls due to technical problems. In several areas of Badakhshan, none of the telecommunications networks have coverage, and the residents of these areas face serious problems in establishing communication and accessing the internet.”
This student calls on telecommunications companies and the relevant Taliban officials to take action to expand network coverage and provide quality internet in the deprived areas of Badakhshan.
This comes as a number of residents of Kabul city had recently also complained about the poor quality of internet services in the city. They had said that they use the internet services of Afghan Telecom, but the internet speed is very low and the connection drops and reconnects more than ten times within an hour. According to them, this situation has slowed down and reduced the quality of their online work, and the pressure and stress resulting from it have made their lives more difficult.
Last year, on the order of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s supreme leader, the Taliban cut off fiber-optic internet and claimed that the move was carried out “to prevent moral corruption.” Under this order, all telecommunications services in Afghanistan had been completely shut down for 48 hours.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
