Highway 101

Will Afghanistan Have To Rely On Iran For It's Future International Communications Links?



Posted: Wednesday, December 09, 2009

by Highway 101

 A recent news report announced that Afghanistan has been working since 2007 on a new fiber optic communications network which will serve 68 towns in 17 provinces in the country. The network is near to completion and will have an international link to Iran, presumably to enable it to connect to the outside world. Communications between Afghanistan and the outside world is currently provided by satellite connections to place such as Germany, Dubai, Hong Kong and most recently through Hawaii of all places, the latter providing the most direct link from Kabul to the US mainland. Whilst satellite does enable international communication links to be established in days and is far more secure than fiber cable which is easy for terrorists to attack it is more expensive to use than fiber. Maybe the Afghanistan government is confident that the Taliban will not cut the new fiber link because, until last year, the Taliban had a track record of not attacking cellular phone cell tower sites in the country presumably because they need communications just as much as the American forces do. There are believed to be cellular sites operating in Afghanistan in Taliban held territory and so one wonders how the cellular companies are able to keep operational those sites which likely use generators to keep them powered? It has to be assumed that there must be an unspoken agreement between communications companies and the Taliban that as long as the Taliban are free to use the communications links then they won't be attacked and the same arrangement would likely apply to the planned new international fiber links.

So assuming the new international fiber link between Afghanistan and Iran will be free from Taliban attacks in Afghanistan then what happens when it transits Iran to say Dubai to connect with say the Europe-Asian submarine fiber cable?  There are trade embargoes in place and more planned on Iran because of the argument about whether Iran should be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. And when Iran does get the bomb (as they likely will) won't that strengthen their ability to cut the Afghanistan fiber transit link to the outside world if they don't like what Afghanistan says or does. So have US tax payer funds financed this $70 million network connecting Afghanistan to Iran by fiber and if so why would anyone consider thousands of miles of fiber buried only 1 to 3 feet deep a secure investment? 

Having to use satellite for international communications may not be ideal, however now that there is a direct satellite link between Afghanistan and the US through Hawaii that cannot be interrupted by any third party country, doesn't it make sense that satellite communications links be preserved for the foreseeable future. After all Afghanistan doesn't really have too many friends on its borders so leapfrogging their neighbors for international communications connections makes a lot of sense, least ways for now.
 
 
Vince Waterson works for a Telecommunications Company. He is based in California and may be contacted at vince@icanresource.com
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