Mobile phone two years ahead of Fourth Economic Development Plan

Fourth Economic Development Plan covers 2005 until 2010.
According to article 57 of the five-year Fourth Economic Development Plan, the government is required to raise penetration rates of landline and mobile phones as well as the internet to 50, 35 and 30 percents respectively.
The same article stipulates that state sector delivers 8 million sim cards by the end of the Plan, but the figures show that more than 20 million sim cards have been delivered, showing a 261 percent growth in the sector.
At the end of the Plan, the waiting time for receiving mobile phone was to have been reduced by 10 months, whereas now state and private prepaid sim cards are delivered on demand.
This has effectively removed sim card black market, making way for genuine buyers to obtain such articles more easily.

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