Afghan Wireless Communication Company, also known as Afghan Wireless and AWCC, is Afghanistan's first wireless communications company. Founded in 1998, it is based in Kabul, Afghanistan with various regional offices. Headquartered in Kabul, Afghan Wireless provides 4G LTE and other services, such as internet and mobile payments to about five million subscribers across Afghanistan's 34 provinces. The company has partnerships with 425 carrier networks in 125 countries. Founded in 2002 by Ehsan Bayat, Afghan Wireless is a joint venture of Telephone Systems International and the Afghan Ministry of Communications. History Founding and licensing In 1998, Afghan-American telecommunications entrepreneur Ehsan Bayat won an exclusive license from Afghanistan's Taliban government to create a joint venture with the country's Ministry of Communications, which was given 20% ownership. The deal had been negotiated by investors from the United States, Britain, and Sweden. Afghan Wireless Communications Company, or AWCC, was established as a subsidiary of Telephone Systems International, and financial backing was provided by the British entrepreneurs Stuart Bentham and Lord Michael Cecil. In June 1999 the Taliban granted Afghan Wireless a 15-year monopoly on cell phone traffic in Afghanistan, and within the year Afghan Wireless had re-enabled Afghanistan's international country calling code. In 1999 and 2000 the company set up digital telephone exchanges in the cities of Kabul and Kandahar, replacing the outdated manual telephone switchboards that the country's telecommunications had long relied upon. Although the Taliban were overthrown by an American invasion in 2001, Afghan Wireless was nevertheless the first company licensed to provide GSM wireless service in Afghanistan. With the lifting of the trade embargo, Afghan Wireless brought in technology from American vendors including WorldCom, TECORE Wireless Systems, and AirNet Communications Corporation. Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai publicly made the first phone call on April 6, 2002, calling and speaking with the Afghan ambassador to the United Nations in New York City. As the network went public using a pre-paid platform, phone booths were set up for those unable to afford cellphones. In June 2002, Argent Networks in New Zealand was contracted to help Afghan Wireless develop its GSM mobile network. The following year Argent also developed a billing system for the network, and competing companies such as Roshan started to appear. Growth and owner lawsuits In 2002 Bayat allegedly attempted to buy out Cecil and Bentham, but the offers were disregarded as "derisory". Bayat and Afghan Wireless subsequently sued Cecil and