Taklamakan Desert of water, accounts for the somewhat wide diurnal temperature variation. The Taklamakan Desert has very little water, therefore it is hazardous to cross. Merchant caravans on the Silk Road would stop for relief at the thriving oasis towns. It was in close proximity to many of the ancient civilizations — to the Northwest is the Amu Darya basin, to the southwest the Afghanistan mountain passes lead to Iran and India, to the east is China, and even to the north ancient towns such as Almaty can be found. The key oasis towns, watered by rainfall from the mountains, were Kashgar,
Fiber to the premises by country ISP, and Sarkor Telecom also offer service in Tashkent. Andorra Telecom operates a country-wide fiber optic network delivering internet, TV, movies on demand and telephone service. Internet access operates at 100 Mbit/s. The FTTH network is being used to replace copper loops, with telephony only subscribers being offered FTTH boxes to replace their copper PSTN line. Almost 100% of the country is covered. Andorra has some remote residences situated beyond the distance supported by DSL. As of Nov 2017 Mobiltel became a major provider, covering more than 40 major markets with max speeds of 1 Gbit/s via GPON. Vivacom is