Roshan Loan From Asian Bank To Extend Services
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Roshan, Afghanistan's mobile market leader is to receive a US$55mn loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The loan will be used to extend the operator's network coverage to remote parts of the country and will also support the deployment of its mobile banking service M-Paisa. The ADB's loan will only partially cover the total US$175mn required to extend Roshan's network, with the remainder arriving from other investors. Priority will be given to new districts, with Roshan upgrading equipment and transforming sites to use solar power, which is expected to lower operating costs in the long term, as well as provide a more reliable source of power, given the limited infrastructure and unreliability of existing electricity sources across the country. The ADB has expressed concern at the rate of reconstruction, which it says 'lags far behind', with telecoms playing a key role.