Siemens to build mobile phone network in Kabul

FRANKFURT, Aug 17 (Reuters) Germany's Siemens has won a deal to build a mobile phone network in Kabul, the capital of war-torn Afghanistan, the company said on Thursday.

The industrial conglomerate said it would build a third-generation (3G) W-CDMA network and supply second-generation equipment to the Afghan Wireless Communication Company (AWCC), the country's first mobile phone company.

AWCC is owned by U.S.-based Telephone Systems International (TSI), a company incorporated in 1998 for the sole purpose of establishing a commercial telephone system in Afghanistan.

Siemens said in a statement that about 1.5 million people or 4 percent of the population use mobile telephony in Afghanistan, where fighting is at its worst since a U.S.-led coalition drove the hardline Islamist Taliban from power in 2001.

"In addition to voice communications, we want to deliver mobile Internet access and mobile TV to our customers over the 3G network," TSI Chief Financial Officer Dan Florentine said in the statement.

REUTERS VJ BST2108