Afghanistan has made a rapid stride in the field of telecommunications. After wide expansion of 2G mobile telephone services, now Afghanistan is going for advanced 3G and 4G telecomm services. Announcing the plans for the licensing and tender process for 3G and 4G services, Minister of Communication and Information Technology, Amirzai Sangin said that tender packages will be available from the first of next month. He said growth and vitality of the telecom sector in Afghanistan is one of the most remarkable success stories. Mobile telephony in Afghanistan started in 2003-2004 when the first two licenses were issued for GSM mobile services. Today there are 17 million subscribers in Afghanistan and this service now cover 80 per cent of the population. More than US $1.6 billion has been invested in modern telecom infrastructure. It has created over 100,000 jobs nationwide. There are currently five licensed mobile networks in Afghanistan.