A spokesman of Afghanistan's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has announced that his country has signed an agreement with the Islamic Republic to buy Internet services from Iran.
Yasin Samim made the announcement while speaking with IRNA that he signed a contract worth $105,000 for every 10 gigabytes of Internet hosting while his country pays more than double that ($250,000) for the same amount. The spokesman noted that as a result of entering the Internet market in Afghanistan's western Herat Province, Iranian companies can now extend their services across the easterly neighbor by creating gateways to Kandahar, Nangarhar, Kabul and Mazar-i-Sharif. Samim added that previously Afghanistan's northern provinces had to pay $135,000 for every 10 gigabytes of Internet services from Kazakhstan.
In the east of that country, the country relied on Pakistani ISPs. However, there were major problems with their connections and the new deal with Iran would alleviate those issues. Iran is likely to gain a larger footing in Afghanistan and Central Asian countries, once sanctions against the Iranian economy are removed in the coming weeks. Iran's strong ICT sector and knowhow are likely to be inundated with requests, once Central Asian states can pay for services directly.
