The Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology said on Wednesday that telecommunication services continue to expand their reach and influence in Afghanistan.  A big benefit of this growth has been the employment of one hundred and ten thousand people in the country.

According to telecommunication ministry officials, 86 percent of the country is currently able to receive telecommunication services.  The investment in this sector has now reached to $1.7 billion dollars.

Last year, the government treasury received $ 170 million dollars of revenue through the telecommunication sector, ministry officials added.

On the occasion of Telecom Day, the Deputy Minister of Telecommunications and Information Technology Eng. Baryalai Hassam praised the significant growth of the telecommunication sector in Afghanistan, saying that the absence of a telecommunication sector in the past had led the country towards backwardness.

Stressing the role of telecommunication in the country’s development, the AWCC Commercial Chief Officer Andreas Quadt said Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) has had great achievements in modernizing the telecommunications system in Afghanistan.

AWCC has increased its capacity in Kandahar and Helmand provinces and has been providing great services for the people of Afghanistan throughout the country, Andreas added.

AWCC is the first and most extensive telecommunication network in Afghanistan providing work opportunities for many thousands of Afghans, both in direct and in-direct employment.

Currently 85 percent of Afghan population country-wide has been provided telecommunication services, Ministry of Telecommunication and Information Technology (MCIT) officials said.

The Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, Amirzai Sangin, said the ministry was seeking to extend telecommunication services in the other remaining parts of the country.

“Now it is the time to strive for providing faster and cheaper internet services throughout the country” Sangin added.

Up to the next three years, most of the Afghan citizens would have access to the internet facilities, the minister said. The ministry announced new price of the internet services reducing 1 MB internet from $ 900 to $ 300 dollars for the internet providers in the country.

Based on MCIT statistics, currently only 4 percent of Afghan population has access to the internet facilities while this figure has reached over 30 percent in neighboring countries especially Pakistan and India.

Afghanistan within the next two years would have its first satellite in orbit to improve the better telecommunication services in the country.

The ministers of communication and information technology, Amir Zai Sangin, said about 250 to 300 million US dollars were needed to launch a satellite in the orbit.

He said the Council of Ministers has agreed with the communication ministry and soon the discussions will begin with the biggest companies of satellite makers.

Mr. Sangin said in the next five years nearly 50 percent of Afghan residents would have access to the faster and better internet services in the country.

Since last ten years, the telecommunication sector has been one of the most growing sectors in Afghanistan. According to the telecommunication ministry, more than 15 million Afghans are using mobile phone services and 4 percent of population has access to the internet services.

Kandahar residents will be provided better telecommunication services after the installation of advanced telecommunication equipments by Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC).

AWCC chairman Amin Ramin in his visit to Kandahar Province said in near future, AWCC customer services centers and signal towers would activated in remote districts of the province.

Amin Ramin in a press conference attended by Asadullah Khalid Minister of Frontier Affairs, ethnic groups and tribes and a number of government officials in Kandahar, assured the people that in near future with the installation of new advanced equipments, AWCC telecommunication services will be increased in the province.

About 21 other AWCC signal towers will be activated within next two weeks in Kandahar which enables the people to have better access to the telecommunication services.

Frontier Affairs Minister Asadullah Khalid and President Karzai’s representative for West while appreciating AWCC’s services, the first telecommunication company in Afghanistan, said this company has created many ease for having better access to the telecommunication services and also has solved the problems of Kandahar residents.

AWCC is the first telecommunication company that started its activities from war-torn province Kandahar and still continued. AWCC is having about more than five hundred thousand subscribers in this province.

With the activation of fast internet system (3G) till the next six months, the distribution of computerized National ID cards and passports will also begin in the country, Communication Minister Amirzai Sangeen said.

Mr. Sangeen said the Ministry is busy since last three years for making computerized National ID cards and passports and is set to be distributed to the residents till the next six months with the cooperation of Interior Ministry.

He said with the distribution of these computerized ID cards further there isn’t any need for distributing especial cards for casting votes during elections and with such a technology, the election process would be so transparent.

According to Mr. Sangeen; people would be facilitated more with the activation of this new technology such as transfer of files, images, videos and other documents through mobile phones.

Meanwhile, 62 people were graduated on Tuesday from the Institute of Communications and Information Technology. Mr. Sangeen said these Afghans can play important roles in the sector of telecommunications and technology and the need of foreigners would also decrease.

If other telecommunication companies do not reduce its call rates, the government will act to lower telecom rates, acting minister of Communications and Information Technology said.

Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC) appointed Afghan singer Vali Hejazi the advertizing ambassador of the company.

Communications and Information Technology acting minister Amirzai Sangeen said “AWCC the first telecommunication company in Afghanistan: once again broke the record of lower call rates in the country.”

AWCC president Amin Ramin said AWCC’s amazing offers are coming soon and in near future, AWCC customers will be provided better and reliable services.

AWCC has been able in less than ten years to influence in all over Afghanistan, AWCC advertizing ambassador Vali Hejazi said.

According to the statistics, AWCC has nearly four million subscribers countrywide.

An international conference titled “Open Sources” started in Kabul, Afghanistan on Sunday. The conference was organized by ministry of Information and Technology and UNESCO where representatives of a number of foreign countries and representatives of ministry participated. Information and technology ministry and UNESCO director consider the conference effective for all Afghans.

Amirzai Sangeen, acting minister of Information and Technology said that:

“The purpose of open sources technology conference is to provide information on how to use computer skills in sector of information technology”

According to him, “computer skills required for using open sources technologies means on how to get to it and use it.”

The participants of this conference consider the information technology, especially “open source” important for youth.

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said that:

“In Central Asia, one million people are facing poverty and have no financial access to information technology; therefore, approach to open source technologies is important”.

He added that:

“We must have the tendency to proceed”.

UNESCO director in Afghanistan said that:

“UNESCO cooperation for better access of Afghan’s to information technology will continue”.

Kabul, Afghanistan, 05 September, 2011.  Afghan Wireless (“AWCC”), Afghanistan’s leading telecom operator, and Ariana Television Network (“ATN”), one of Afghanistan’s largest television stations, have joined to bring Afghanistan the world’s most popular game show, “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” (“WWTBAM”) along with “AWCC’s Millionaire SMS Challenge” contributing to make a unique TV-telco team.

The cooperative venture between AWCC & ATN is a 1^st of its kind arrangement.  Each WWTBAM episode contains a 3-part “AWCC Millionaire SMS Challenge” segment where a question is presented to viewers.   Anyone with a mobile phone can answer a nightly question posed by the WWTBAM host by sending an SMS short-code and the first correct response is declared that night’s “AWCC Millionaire SMS Challenge Champion!”

All SMS respondents answering correctly receive a congratulatory SMS from AWCC with an invitation to become a member of the live WWTBAM audience and to try and become Afghanistan’s “Next Millionaire!”  Each nightly “AWCC Millionaire SMS Champion” receives a $100 USD Gift Certificate and AWCC free phone!

Amin Ramin, Managing Director of AWCC commenting on the success of this initiative, said “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “AWCC’s Millionaire SMS Challenge” has captured the imagination of our customers and the nation as a whole.  Linking AWCC’s mobile customers directly as participants to a live televised broadcast nightly game show brings incredible capabilities to all of our customers through any handset.  AWCC can help all Afghan’s to have fun competing to become a millionaire.”

WWTBAM airs on ATN Saturday through Tuesday’s from 8:30-9:00 PM.

About Afghan Wireless – Headquartered in Kabul, AWCC serves approx 4,000,000 subscribers throughout Afghanistan; and one of the largest employers of Afghans, employing over 4,500 people directly and another 50,000 indirectly.  AWCC is a leader in delivering wireless and broadband communication solutions to residential and business customers.  Additional information is available at www.afghan-wireless.com.

About Ariana TV & Radio – Founded by Ehsan Bayat, ATN broadcasts to 33 Provinces throughout Afghanistan; and also internationally via satellite and the internet.  It has many of the most popular programs in Afghanistan; including ATN News, and 59 Minutes.  Additional information is available at www.arianatelevision.com.

For further information regarding becoming an advertising sponsor on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” contact Mohammad Ramadan at +93 700 801 846 or mark.davis@afghan-wireless.com

Kandahar police with the cooperation of head of telecommunications detected and seized illegal telecommunication devices. Officials of telecommunication said: By these devices, international phone numbers were converted into local phone numbers and income of domestic telecom companies being taken by the people who installed these devices.

Security forces said: “It was informed earlier about the installation of these illegal devices and at last security forces and police commandership succeeded to seize the illegal devices in Sher Andam region of Kandahar and 4 people are also arrested who are accused of being involved in the installation of illegal devices”. But the identities of these arrested people are not told to media. Kandahar Police commander said: Through these devices, incomes of private telecom companies were being stolen.

Similar illegal devices were also detected and seized by Police soldiers some days earlier in Kabul and Baghlan Province and some Pakistanis were also arrested in the accusation of these illegal devices.

Ministry of Communications and Information Technology cooperating with US development to launch money transfer system via mobile at a cost of 5 million dollars. Officials of this Ministry said: By this facility, teachers and other government servants can be paid their salaries and administrative corruptions cal also be prevented.

Ameerzai Snageen head of Telecommunication Ministry in the occasion of process of money transfer system via mobile which was held in Kabul, said: The system of money transfer via mobile will be launched with the cooperation of US development through Afghan Wireless Communication Company and other communication companies.

Meanwhile, Richard Adams representative of Afghan Wireless Communication Company declares this system effective in Afghanistan and said: “We four communication companies want the people to be included in this process”.

In this way, Afghan people will be more facilitated and can have their money in remote areas too. Richard Adams said: “This is an excellent opportunity for financial matters to be solved”.

While, according to officials of the Ministry of Communications, 80 percent Afghan People have access to the mobile services.

(CNN) — Technology can make your life easier, but figuring out which tech tools to trust can be tiresome at the least and eye-poppingly stressful at worst.

To help, here’s a list of 50 recently released or updated websites and apps that will make your mobile photos look better, improve your online social life and boost your productivity.

This list is by no means all-inclusive, so feel free to tell us about your favorite tech tools in the comments section or on Twitter. We’re @cnntech.

Google Plus (free): It’s too soon to tell whether Google’s latest social network is social media’s new king of the hill. However, one thing’s for sure: The initial user reviews are very positive, and the strong bundling of social innovations make Google Plus — often described as “Google’s Facebook” — worth the test drive.

Google Plus Nickname (free): Now that you’ve jumped in the Plus-pool, time to head over to Gplus.to for your own personalized URL.

Facebook-Skype (free): Made official last week at Mark Zuckerberg’s recent announcement at Facebook headquarters, the service isn’t yet available for all users. Users take advantage of the video-calling feature via Facebook without having to install any software. Some are criticizing the service for falling short of the Google+ hangout feature, where users can join group video calls up to 10 people. Facebook’s video chat is only one-on-one.

Tout (free): Virtually no one had heard of this micro-video service until Shaquille O’Neal used it to recently announce his retirement from pro basketball. After garnering more half a million views in three hours, Tout had arrived with a splash, thanks to the larger-than-life hoops superstar. Capture 15-second videos and instantly share with family and friends. Downside: A Flash player is required to watch videos (sorry, iPad users).

Capture (99 cents): If you have kids and love recording those “first-moments,” this app is probably worth considering. Once you install Capture, tap the app, and it starts recording video immediately. Once you’re done, the video goes straight to your camera roll. No more missing moments by a split second.

Broadcastr (free): You bring the audio and plot the journey. Broadcastr weaves the story. This new social media platform enables the recording, organizing, listening and sharing of audio content on a map-based interface. Also works as great discovery tool for exploring personal and historical stories in new places. Available for iPhone and Android.

Turntable.fm (free): The service combines music-streaming, chat rooms and voting, all through a Facebook portal. Friends either vote up (awesome) your tunes or they go the other direction (lame). Whether or not you’re a big music fan, this product is very hip and very addictive.

Spotify (free/paid): After years of drooling with envy, music fans on the U.S. side of the pond now get a chance to stream with Spotify. The extremely popular music service in Europe finally soft-launched last week in the U.S. For the first time, major record companies in the U.S. have embraced an online music service that lets people play the songs of their choice for free.

Instagr.am (free): The good times just keep on rolling for the social photo sharing service — after all, how many Web companies can boast more millions of users than individual employees? Five-plus million users and growing for the service, which remains available only for Apple iPhone. Instagram has done for bad cell phone pics what GPS navigation did for confused motorists. If imitation is the greatest form of flattery, the spinoffs and third-party apps are lining up.

Followgram.me (free): This Web app helps offset one of Instagram’s primary limitations: no official website for users to log in, view and readily share photos. Followgram creates an Instagram follow button to be embedded on websites and blogs. Followgram also provides its users with a vanity URL, his/her photo gallery, friends, followers and following lists. Moreover, a Followgram user’s page is fully customizable.

Webstagram (free): Another simple, aesthetically pleasing Web interface for viewing your Instagram photos as well as your Instagram peeps.

Postagram (99 cents): Makes it easy to send Instagram, Facebook and mobile phone photos as real postcards from your iPhone, iPod touch or Android phone. Imagine that: Photos that you can actually hold in your hands!

Keepsy ($29.99): Not able to view, print and share your Instagram portfolio? Not a problem with Keepsy: customize and order photo albums.

Tumblr iPhone 2.0 (free): The upgrade offers valuable upgrades: There’s a new interface, it’s easier than ever to create posts, it’s much easier to reply to messages, there’s address book integration, and now new users can begin building inside the mobile app. Tumblr has begun distancing itself from other micro-blogging publishing sites and now has a mobile experience that matches its Web version.

Klout (free): The days of measuring one’s social media reach simply by number of followers, friends or connections is ancient history. Web tools like Klout are starting to measure the influence you have over your digital minions.

Empire Ave (free): It bills itself as the Social Stock Market, where you can grow your social capital online. Here’s how it works: You discover people online and then based on scores or share price invest virtual currency in their profiles by buying shares in the Social Stock Market. After a bit, you’ll get used to the weirdness of having strangers bid “social shares” on your “social wares.” Sounds kooky, but all the cool kids are doing it.

Sonar (free): This app is kind of like a good party host: It introduces you to whoever else is in the room by leveraging what you have in common. Ease of use for navigating who’s nearby and how to virtually connect with them makes this location-based app a must-have. Available for the iPhone.

Bizzy (free): A Web and mobile service for personalized local business recommendations. Bizzy recently updated its iPhone and Android apps to introduce a “Check Out” feature. Users can now check out to leave short, emoticon-style reviews of venues on their way out the door. The Bizzy venue checkout is meant to be the opposite of the check-in, which we’ve seen in a slew of applications, from Foursquare to Facebook Places.

Crowdbeacon (free): Craving the best sushi joint around, and prefer human interaction over indexed user reviews? Crowdbeacon can help. Crowdsourcing your social life, this is a location-based service focused on providing relevant, localized communication and information to users based on what they need and where they are.

Apptitude (free): This is a bit stalkerish, but for those curious about the Facebook apps your friends are using (and when they’re using them), check out this iPhone app. Then feel free to razz your friends over how much time they’re really spending on Farmville!

Shortmail (free): The Twitter effect. This app doesn’t limit your emails to famous 140 characters. Instead, it forces brevity and concise thoughts via 500 characters. Let’s face it, who isn’t drowning in e-mail overload these days? It’s unclear whether Shortmail will catch on … but we can all dream, right?

Visualize.me (free): Standard formatted resumes just aren’t cool anymore. You know what’s cool? Infographic resumes. This site provides a creative way of getting your foot in the door at the workplace you so covet. Visualize.me is set to launch later this month to beta invitees, then the public in August.

Gabacus (paid): Navigating the massive Twitter firehouse is nearly impossible without a little help. Gabacus makes sense of the millions of tweets per day by summarizing and curating the topics you’re interested in.

Regator (free/paid): Another tool that helps you easily find, read and share high-quality blog posts about things that interest you. It is available on the Web and iPhone. Rather than automatically fetching every blog under the sun, Regator uses qualified human editors to carefully select the most relevant, useful, well-written blogs across 500-plus topics.

Getaround (fees): Isn’t it time you took advantage of your ride as it sits in the driveway or parking lot? This mobile app (currently only available in select cities) turns you into Enterprise Rental or Hertz by letting you loan out your car when it’s not in use. Renters access your vehicle via an iPhone app after terms are agreed upon.

Do@ (free): Do@ doesn’t index pages. Instead, it shows live sites or apps that have been optimized for mobile presentation. It’s similar to Google’s preview functionality for mobile, but all the pages on do@ are live and not cached.

NASA (free): The NASA app for iPhone and iPad has been around for a couple years, but the Android version just hit the Marketplace. It offers a huge collection of NASA content, including images, videos on demand, NASA TV, mission info and social media extensions. Definitely worth a look for all space nuts!

Twylah (free): Showcase your tweets in a more complete narrative story. Super-easy to use and a much better storefront for your Twitter brand than the somewhat wonky Twitter stream.

SkinScan ($4.99): This app helps you analyze and keep an archive of moles on you or members of your family, for later review and comparison of the results. SkinScan displays several disclaimers that the app is to be used for strictly informational purposes, but it’s nonetheless pretty interesting to see how personal tech is impacting everyday health concerns.

Formulists (free): By far the easiest way to create and manage Twitter Lists. This application lets you organize Twitter into smart, auto-updating Twitter lists: filter based on location/bio keywords, Twitter activity and more.

FreeTime (free): Wondering where your day went? FreeTime can help. Using nothing more than the calendar on your smartphone, this productivity app finds time between your events. Powerful filtering allows you to locate your free time in any setting.

Redbox (free): More and more movie watchers are turning to services like Redbox. This simple mobile app helps narrow down where the nearest rental kiosk is located via GPS, find out whether they have your desired flick in stock and if you chose to register, can even reserve the DVD. Don’t forget the buttered popcorn.

Appstart (free): Seconds after you’ve removed your shiny new iPad from the box, this is without a doubt the first app you should download. It’s a great starter assistant for finding relevant applications based on your tastes.

Evernote (free/paid): One of the most acclaimed productivity apps around. Evernote boasts a suite of software and services designed for note taking and archiving. A “note” can be a piece of formattable text, a full Web page or an excerpt, a photograph, a voice memo or a handwritten “ink” note. Notes can also have file attachments.

Evernote Peek (free): Flash cards for the digital generation! Peek is the first Smart Cover learning app. Connect Peek to your Evernote account and brush up on a language, make flashcards for a quiz or test yourself based on your Evernote contents.

Photos 3D for FB (free): It’s a 3-D photo viewer for Facebook. In this app you can easily browse, comment, share photos and so on. You’ve never viewed photos like this.

FavFriends (free): Who doesn’t need help breaking through the Facebook friend clutter? This service provides real-time notifications when a favorite Facebook friend posts a new status. Also you can sleep better knowing you’ll never miss a friend who checked in somewhere when you were nearby at the same time.

Katango (free): Personal crowd control! This messaging app for the iPhone automatically groups together your contacts by life stage or activity. So groupings will include family members, high school friends, college buddies, co-workers and so forth. The application plucks out your address book contacts and Facebook friends and organizes these folks into groups based on patterns of previous social interactions. You can then tweak the groups to your liking and start sending photos or messages to particular groups.

Peel (free): This app is a handy little guide to point TV fanatics in the right direction for what’s on the air. New hardware upgrades offer universal remote control option for all of your television/audio home equipment ($99).

Twicsy (free): View top Twitter picture trends and popular pictures. This app is functional and easy to use. It’s beginning to stand out in the Twitter photo space.

Pixable (free/paid): It’s no secret that photos are by far the most-shared pieces of content of Facebook. To that end, it ain’t easy keeping up with the piles of pics. This app for iPhone, iPad and Web pushes the most commented, tagged and shared pics to the top of your radar.

True HDR ($1.99): Create full-resolution HDR (high dynamic range) pictures on your iPhone (4, 3GS), iPod Touch (4G) or iPad (2).

iMotion HD (free/paid): An intuitive and easy to use time-lapse and stop-motion app for iOS devices. Take pictures, edit your movie and export HD 720p videos to your device or directly to YouTube.

iPhone SLR Mount ($249): Size matters! This case-adapter combo lets you mount your Canon EOS or Nikon SLR lenses to your iPhone 4, giving your phone powerful depth of field and manual focus. Telephoto, wide angle, macro or your fixed-50 lenses all attach to this mount, giving you a full range of lenses at your iPhone-lovin’ fingertips. (Note: also available for iPhone 3GS for $190)

Piictu (free): Think of this app as a scavenger hunt with cell phone pics. A simple way to talk and play with your friends from your mobile phone using pictures. You simply snap a pic and post it to Piictu and your social networks, and watch it get live picture responses from your friends and community at large.

Flixlab (free): Create professional style movies in seconds with Flixlab, a mobile application available for iPhone, coming soon to Android and Windows Phone 7. Also allow friends to keep the creative fun going with the option to “remix” your movies.

San Francisco (CNN) — A tablet computer doesn’t have to look like a flat rectangle.

For its entry into the U.S. tablet market, Sony Electronics is forgoing that common design, popularized by Apple’s iPad. The Japanese company’s upcoming tablets look and feel more like folded magazines and a pair of sunglasses than the parade of rectangles on the market now.

The first Android tablet, the S1, looks like dozens of other tablets at first glance. But the back has a “wraparound” curved lip that’s supposed to feel like a magazine does when it’s folded over. In a brief test Wednesday, this design felt more natural than some models with flatter backs.

The second, the S2, resembles an oversize sunglasses case. The rounded metallic gizmo can be flipped open like a book to reveal two touchscreens, each measuring 5.5 inches diagonally.

The split-screen display is appropriate for reading books, and Sony will include a version of its e-book software that’s optimized for the device. But the S2 “will coexist” with the dedicated monochrome-display e-readers Sony sells, said Phil Molyneux, president and operating chief for Sony Electronics.

The S2′s clamshell design — an old idea that has been resurrected from the flip-phone era — is intended to make the S2 more portable, Molyneux said.

“There’s not many actual other products that you can actually fit in your pocket today unless you make your pocket much bigger,” Molyneux said.

Except for phones?

To which Molyneux said: “This will show you a whole page of the Internet.”

The S2 will be sold jointly with AT&T Mobility and can connect to AT&T’s faster cellular data network. The S1 will only be able to connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi networks.

Sony’s pair of tablets run Google’s Android operating system. They will debut sometime in the fall, Sony executives said. The company plans to disclose information about pricing and release dates closer to their debut. The names of these devices also could change in the next few months.

Sony will face mounting competition from new entrants. Tablet-industry newcomer Toshiba launched the Thrive this month, and Samsung Electronics, an early contender, continues to roll out tablets in a variety of sizes.

Sony is targeting a more status-minded customer with these devices, similar to Apple’s with the iPad, executives said during the news conference.

But the electronics giant may have difficulty conveying the differences to customers. The “distinct advantages” of Sony’s tablets that executives were touting are its hardware design, software tweaks for making Web pages load faster and touch responsiveness quicker, and integration with Sony’s Qriocity multimedia streaming services.

PlayStation Suite, video-game software currently deployed on Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Play phone, will be pre-installed on these new tablets. But Sony will not be targeting diehard game players.

“This is for the casual gamer,” Molyneux said.

The tablets can also be programmed to work as television remote controls and entertainment hubs. A feature called Throw allows users to flick the screen, when playing a movie, to transfer that video wirelessly to a TV, similar to Apple’s AirPlay.

The   Ministry of communication & information technology celebrated, world Telecommunication information society day during a gathering at the press conference Hall of GMIC (government Media Relation and information center). The meeting opened with the recitation of the few verses of the holly Quran; subsequently the national anthem was played.

17 of May is an international day for the Telecommunication and celebrated by WTISD members across the world.

Mr. Amirzai sangin Minister of Communication and  IT I.R of Afghanistan, Mr. Wahabudin Sadat ,D deputy minister of communications & IT Ministry and  board of directorates, directors of Communications   and information of both the upper house and lower house of the parliament of Afghanistan , representatives of the private telecommunication companies  and Media representative attended the celebration day.

At the beginning Mr. Wahabudin Sadat  welcomed the guests and participants. Then a short film which was made on the 2011 GSM international award, granted to the Minister of communication and IT I.R of Afghanistan, was played to participants.

Later on,  Mohammad Karim Khalily the second vice president’s  message delivered by his chief of staff on the occasion of celebrating WTISD

Mr. Amirzai Sangin delivered an informative and inclusive speech and said:” the reason of celebrations of this day is that the WTISD member countries provide their people with information about the importance of this day in order to disseminate   Information to its people to get better use of IT in their lives”.

One particular issue is focused on this day every year. The extension of IT services to rural area is the issue of this year to be brought to lime light said the minister. The minister continued that “half of the populations of the world are living in rural area, and urban area is enjoying more from information technology services. And those who are living in villages in most of the countries are deprived of telecommunication and IT facilities”. Mr. Sangin added:” I observe a real revolution in the field of Telecommunication and IT; a very big change has taken place in two dimensions of telecommunication and IT, – particularly in Mobile and internet services, even we can’t not imagine of.

The minister also mentioned that” all these changes from the beginning till now had been achieved within 25 years,  from the Total Population of the world ,now 5 billion people in the world  has Telephone. Those who don’t have telephone are children or those who can’t use telephone it means that every individual in the world enjoys having Telephone”. The minister of Communication and IT shed some light on the internet services, and added: internet services started in 1984 and came to market for public usage in 1995 ever since people began to use internet”. It has been 16 year since the internet turned to be used by the public and I was amongst those who first used internet 16 year ago; within this short period of time this much advancement is really a revolution in the world of Telecommunication and IT.” said Mr.Sangin. Later on the Minister provided the participant with information about status of Telecommunication and IT service in Afghanistan. In the past  in  for the development of Telecommunication in Afghanistan  a little bit work had been done but because of civil war and blood shedding all infrastructures of Afghanistan had been damaged, with establishment of new government in Afghanistan we haven’t had telecommunication services” the minster explained. Mr. Sangin mentioned of the accomplishment of new government in providing communications services in Afghanistan he said that all these achievement had been done within 8 years which is unique in all over the world we don’t trace any  country in the world to have had this much advancement in such a  short period of time.” As compare to our neighboring countries, we are ahead from them if, not ahead but definitely we are equal to them in providing these services.

Likewise the minister of Communication and IT talked about the  honoring the GSM 2011 international  award to the I.R of Afghanistan, which is organized by GSM international community and given to the countries based on certain criteria.”Government and The people of Afghanistan are proud to have owned the GSM international award; three criteria were considered for granting the GSM award-vision, courage and transparency. Afghanistan had  substantial attainment in these three dimensions, thus the GSM community decided to grant 2011 GSM international award among 194 countries to Afghanistan”  the Minister said.

He also talked about the revenue of the ministry of communications &IT:”in 1386 we had 85$ dollar; in 1387 was 105$ million; in 1388 129$millon dollar; this year as per our estimation the revenue would be around 150$ dollar”. Mr. Sangin also added that: “there are a lot of people demanding Radio Television frequency, but   we don’t have space for frequency in Kabul and can’t provide any more, we decide to solve this problem through Cable networks. We also planned to control cable networks broadcasting and we have talked in this regard with ministry of culture and information”

Our rular area which have not come under our coverage, 30$ million dollar have been allocated, so in a very near future, they will get Telecommunication &IT services” the Minister promised.  He also informed of giving each and every afghan a number that he/she can get mobile service from any Telecommunication company. This number will remain with them forever.

The official Google+ iPhone app is now available. The app is available as a free download [iTunes link] from the App Store.

Here’s a list of the app’s features, along with their descriptions.

– Circles let you share the right things with just the right people.

– Stream is where you can get updates from your circles or see what people are saying about things nearby.

– Huddle is super-fast group messaging for everyone in your circles.

Buggy, but fun

First impressions of the app are that while useful, it’s buggy. The app doesn’t work on iOS 5 beta 3 — so cutting-edge adopters, you’re out of luck (for now) — and is crashing in iOS 4 at regular occurrences for some users.

Punit Soni, lead product manager for Google+ Mobile responded to some of the complaints on Google+ and he is promising updates.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

To mark the occasion, a press conference was held in the Government Media & Information Center (GMIC) with the participation of H.E. Eng.  Amirzai Sangin Minister of Communications and IT of I.R of Afghanistan, Deputy Ministers and board of directors of (MCIT)   foreign officialsthe media representative  to launch a major new initiative for SY 1390 (2011-12).

Eng Amirzai Sangin Minister of (MCIT) said: The growth and vitality of the telecommunications sector in Afghanistan is one of the most remarkable success stories of the recent past.   Since 1382 (2003-2004), when the first two licenses  were  issued  for  GSM  mobile  services,  mobile  telephone  subscribers  have increased from  zero  to  17  million  subscribers.    More than 1.6  billion US$   has been invested in modern infrastructure, services now reaching over 80% of the population and sustaining over 100,000 jobs nationwide.

Mr.sangin added  Afghanistan will now award one additional license, for the provision of the next generation of mobile services (3G in the 2100 MHz band), which will make it possible to have broadband access to the Internet and multimedia services, such as video streaming. Each of Afghanistan’s existing mobile licensees will be able to upgrade their licenses by matching the winning bid in the 3G auction.

The 3G tender package will be available to all interested parties on 1 August 2011 at noon from the Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority (ATRA),located on the 10th   floor of the Ministry tower in kabul ,There will a 500,000 Afghani non-refundable fee for the documentation and registration . The deadline for the submission of bids will be 1 October 2011 and it is expetected that the final announcement and award will be 1 November 2011.