Roshan Afghanistan - Cell Phones Afghanistan

The Company

The word "Roshan" means "light" in both of the national Afghan languages, Dari and Pashto. The name Roshan was given by the people of Afghanistan as Roshan brings a promise of hope, development, and a brighter future for Afghanistan.

Roshan is one of the largest private employers in Afghanistan, directly employing over 973 people, 20% of whom are women. In addition, Roshan provides indirect employment to more than 20,000 people, who work as dealers, distributors, contractors and suppliers. Roshan also works with 5 nationwide scratch card distributors to bring Roshan and its products closer to the Afghan people.

Roshan also contributes to the economic growth of Afghanistan as one of the largest advertisers, spurring the development of new markets of printing, billboards and advertising.

Owned by an international consortium of investors led by the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED), Monaco Telecom International (MTI) and Swedish-Finnish TeliaSonera, Roshan brings international telecommunications expertise to Afghanistan and its commitment to the highest standards of network quality and coverage.

Awards and Accolades

In February 2005, Roshan won the ÏBest MarketingÓ Award, which was announced at the mobile industryÌs leading annual event in Cannes, France at the 3GSM World Congress 2005.

Roshan beat international companies such as Motorola USA and Vodafone UK to win the coveted "Best Marketing Campaign" Award for its "Light and Hope" campaign, aimed at making mobile communications widely accessible to the Afghan people. Roshan was praised for navigating through religious, ethnic and cultural obstacles to establish a recognized and respected brand, which has helped to expand the Afghan telecommunications market. Roshan has become the brand that represents the hope and opportunity in Afghanistan today.

In September 2006, Roshan won the "Best Brand Award" at the CommsMEA Awards Ceremony in Dubai. This inaugural award seeks to recognize and reward telecommunication industry professionals and operators that have shown exceptional performance and results in key market segments.
In November 2006, Roshan was a finalist in the 2006 World Communication Awards (WCA). The World Communication Award has emerged as one of the most prestigious awards in global telecommunications. Roshan had been nominated in four categories from a record number of 250 entrants. The awards under consideration were Best Brand, Best Mobile Operator, Best Operator in a Developing Market, and Best National/Regional Operator. It was announced at the awards ceremony in London that Roshan had won the award for ÏBest Operator in a Developing MarketÓ, beating out major competitors such as Mobilink (Pakistan), Afsat (Kenya), Mobilnil (Egypt) and Nuevatel (Bolivia). This was a true achievement for such a young company. The surprising outcome of this event demonstrated the strong respect, admiration and recognition Roshan commands from industry leaders.
WCA 2006 Winner

"Customer Service Provider of the Year" (2007). On September 2, 2007, Roshan received the award for excellence in customer service from the CommsMEA, among other significant telecom providers in the Middle East and Africa. This award was particularly important to the company, as Roshan strongly believes that customer service is a key factor in building customer loyalty and competitive differentiation in the marketplace.