Some residents of Kabul say that following the Taliban decision to cut fiber-optic internet in Afghanistan, the quality of internet services across the country has deteriorated. They add that this decline has disrupted their daily activities. According to them, they have repeatedly raised these challenges with internet service providers, but the companies have cited “the existence of recent Taliban filters and restrictions” as the reason for their inability to improve services. Kabul residents also say that telecommunications companies in Afghanistan are not responsive to complaints and have taken no effective measures to improve coverage and service quality.
Some of these residents, speaking to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, say that despite paying high costs for internet services, they receive extremely poor and low-quality service. According to them, the country’s telecommunications market is controlled by a limited number of companies, and the lack of healthy competition has removed any incentive to improve services or reduce costs.
Sakina, a teacher at private schools, complains about the poor quality of internet services in Afghanistan. She says she downloads educational videos for her students, a process that takes hours due to the low internet speed.
The teacher adds, “I buy 700 afghanis worth of internet each month and activate a monthly Afghan Wireless package, but the internet speed is very low. At home, we also have Wi-Fi, for which I pay 1,100 afghanis, but its quality has become very poor. After that 48-hour internet outage, the internet never returned to its previous speed. We have complained many times, but no one is truly responsive. One day, I had to call three times until three in the afternoon to ask about the disruption, but they said this situation is normal because the connected fibers have problems.”
This Kabul resident says, “Even when we activate the internet, the system is such that it must end on the same date and time. But after that outage, now my internet, despite being an unlimited package, ends three to four days earlier. I do not know what kind of system the service providers use, but this problem repeats every day and every month, even though our packages are unlimited. When we complain, they say that such problems are normal in Afghanistan.”
Ahmad Saadat, another Kabul resident, says that the speed and quality of the internet in Afghanistan cannot even be compared with neighboring countries. He adds that Taliban restrictions on social media have made the situation worse.
Mr. Saadat says: “After the two-day internet shutdown by the Taliban, internet speed decreased, and the restrictions imposed on social media increased our usage costs, because we are forced to use VPNs to access Facebook and other social networks. This increases internet consumption and also reduces speed. But the most worrying issue is the rise in costs. At a time when poverty dominates society, these expenses put immense pressure on the people. I ask the Taliban to take serious action to resolve this challenge and reduce the cost of internet to 10 afghanis, because even this 10 afghanis is unaffordable for many people.”
Sultan Ali, another Kabul resident, considers the telecommunications system in Afghanistan to be among the most inefficient systems. He says: “No effort has been made to turn the country’s telecommunications sector into an efficient one. Private telecommunications companies operating in Afghanistan exploit existing gaps. They increase internet prices while speeds remain low, and in some areas, there is not even proper signal coverage. As a user of telecommunications services, I am very dissatisfied with the current situation and believe that serious measures must be taken to improve these services.”
Some asylum seekers from Afghanistan in Pakistan say that they receive internet at a lower cost than the packages available in Afghanistan.
Anila, one of the migrants in Pakistan, says: “In the three years that I have been in Pakistan, the speed and cost of internet or Wi-Fi have been very different from Afghanistan. Internet speed in Pakistan is high, and its cost is low. Compared to the internet in Afghanistan, the situation in Pakistan is not comparable. I also used the internet in Afghanistan and attended online classes, especially during the coronavirus period and under the Taliban, but most of the time I could not participate in classes or complete my assignments.”
Meanwhile, some technology experts say that the current state of the internet in Afghanistan is the result of a combination of inadequate basic infrastructure, government restrictions, and a lack of competition among service providers. They stress that without substantial investment in fiber-optic networks and infrastructure upgrades, no improvement in internet speed and quality can be expected.
Farhad Fakhri, a technology expert, says that under current conditions, there is no clear solution to improve internet services. He suggests that Kabul residents use wireless and fiber-optic internet services.
Fakhri adds: “In Afghanistan, there are not many companies competing in the internet sector. The number of companies is limited, and no real competition has formed. The government’s focus is also not on this sector. As a result, companies increase internet prices. The lack of basic infrastructure and insufficient competition in the internet sector have led to higher prices and lower service quality.”
Currently, the monthly cost of internet in one of Afghanistan’s telecommunications networks ranges from 600 to 2,500 afghanis. Daily packages are also offered at varying rates, with the cheapest priced at 15 afghanis. The lowest cost of a monthly call package in one of these networks is 135 afghanis. The minimum cost of fiber-optic internet services starts at 500 afghanis and goes up to 4,000 afghanis or more, depending on the package.
Despite the increase in complaints, the Afghanistan Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which is under Taliban control, has so far shown no new reaction in this regard. It had previously announced that it would work to reduce internet costs and improve service quality.
Currently, about six telecommunications companies operate in Afghanistan. The authority had previously announced that there are 26 million active SIM cards and 13 million internet users in the country.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
کاهش کیفیت انترنت؛ کاربران از ناکارآمدی شرکتها و محدودیتهای طالبان شکایت دارند
