IRAQ | Telecommunication Sector

[Ali - Iraq]

Iraq's Asiacell to launch IPO on Jan 3
Dubai, 3 hours, 52 minutes ago


Iraqi telecom operator Asiacell will launch its long-awaited initial public offering (IPO) on January 3, a company spokesman said on Monday, in what is likely to be the country's largest-ever share sale.

Asiacell, a subsidiary of Qatar Telecom (Qtel), aims to sell a quarter of its stock in the IPO and will list on the Iraq Stock Exchange on February 3, the spokesman said.

The company has until Decemebr 25 to tell the market regulator the number and price of the shares it wants to sell.

Asiacell - given an enterprise value (equity plus debt) of $4.4 billion in 2011 by brokerage Nomura Holdings - received preliminary approval from Iraqi regulators to launch its share sale in August this year.

Morgan Stanley ceased to be a bookrunner on the IPO in September, signalling it will increasingly rely on local investors.

Asiacell and rival operators Zain Iraq (a subsidiary of Kuwait's Zain ) and France Telecom affiliate Korek had been required to float a quarter of their shares by August 2011 as part of their $1.25 billion licence agreements.

All have yet to do so and the planned share offerings would still be the first major IPOs since the US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The Iraq Stock Exchange, whose listed stocks have a combined market capitalisation of about $3.7 billion, has a daily share trading volume of around $3.2 million. -Reuters

[Ali - Iraq]

Customers can personalize their BlackBerry device, find the hottest games and entertainment, and get apps that help them stay connected with the people who matter most to them.

"We are thrilled to launch BlackBerry App World for our customers in Iraq," said Sandeep Saihgal, Managing Director for the Middle East at RIM.

"They can now enjoy great content for their BlackBerry smartphones and PlayBook tablets with a comprehensive catalog of applications that can enrich their mobile experience for work and play," he added.

Some key features of BlackBerry App World include:

•Front Page Carousel - BlackBerry App World showcases several applications on its front page carousel, making it easy for customers to browse through a select number of featured applications. These applications vary from time to time, helping customers discover new applications.

•Reviews - In addition to seeing screenshots and reading a description of an application before they download it, customers can easily access and read reviews posted by other customer, which are then reflected in star ratings.

•Share - Customers can recommend applications to other people through email, PIN, SMS message, Facebook, Twitter or BlackBerry Messenger (BBM).

•Wishlist: Customers can easily mark an app for future download or purchase with Wishlist. They can build their wish list as they browse through the catalog and add the items that interest them most.

•Update Notifications: Customers are notified of updates to applications they've downloaded on BlackBerry App World.

Some free apps on BlackBerry App World include:

•Call To Pray - by Asgatech, is an app that displays Muslim prayer times and reminders. It also calculates Qibla (direction of Mecca) based on the customer's current location using GPS.

•Arabic Radio ListenArabic.com - one of the biggest Arabic social portals, giving BlackBerry customers the pleasure of listening to music, television, and readings of the Qu'ran.

•Arabic Food - by Asgatech, is a step by step Arabic food recipe app, providing ingredients, cooking rules and healthy eating tips, all supported by tantalizing photos.

•Qordoba Reader - start reading free and affordable Arabic eBooks in ePub format. All purchases sync with the a customer's online bookshelf at Qordoba.com and on their BlackBerry smartphone.

BlackBerry App World is available for all BlackBerry smartphones running BlackBerry OS 4.2 or higher, as well as BlackBerry PlayBook tablets. Customers can download BlackBerry App World directly to their smartphone or tablet by visiting blackberry.com/appworld or mobile.blackberry.com, over both Wi-Fi and mobile phone networks.

BlackBerry App World is available in more than 170 markets and territories around the world. Customers require an active BlackBerry data plan with Internet access to access BlackBerry App World. Data charges may apply for customers that have limited data plans.

[sheytanElKebir]

RIM are getting desperate. but Iraq is already ANDROID territory.

too little too late.

[BigDreamer]

RIM is a dead horse anyway..

[diako_ber]

Originally Posted by sheytanElKebir

RIM are getting desperate. but Iraq is already ANDROID territory.

too little too late.

iPhones are also very common here, together with nokias.

[diako_ber]

Why aren't there many ADSL users in Iraq? A lot of people use EVDO technology, but it is really slow. Also, many use WiMAX technology which is fast sometimes, however when a lot of people are using the internet, the speed goes down dramatically. So why aren't people using ADSL services here?

[Ali - Iraq]

BAGHDAD — Asiacell, one of Iraq’s three mobile service providers, said Tuesday it is looking to raise $1.3 billion through what would be the country’s biggest stock offering yet.

A successful floatation on Baghdad’s low-volume stock exchange could reassure international investors, many of whom remain wary of the risky Iraqi market nearly a decade after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

The company plans to offer 67.5 billion shares for at least 22 Iraqi dinars, or just under 2 cents, apiece when it launches the initial public offering on Jan. 3. Investors will have until Feb. 2 to submit orders for the shares.

“We’re delighted to be able to provide the chance for all Iraqis to participate in our future by taking a stake in Asiacell,” Managing Director Faruk Rasool said in a statement. “We’re confident in our future as Iraq’s mobile industry continues to grow.”

The shares being offered represent a quarter of Asiacell’s total share capital. The Gulf state of Qatar’s government-backed Qatar Telecom owns 53.9 percent of Asiacell, which is based in the northern Iraqi Kurdish city of Sulaimaniyah.

A number of the company’s founding shareholders will be cashing out at least part of their investment with the floatation.

Asiacell competes against Zain Iraq, part of Kuwait’s Zain, and Korek, an affiliate of France Telecom.

The three companies are required to list shares on the stock exchange as a condition of their 15-year operating licenses, which cost $1.25 billion when they were acquired in 2007. All three missed a deadline in August 2011 to offer shares to the public.

Asiacell began offering cell phone service in Iraq’s highly autonomous northern Kurdish region in 1999. Mobile phone services did not exist in the rest of Iraq until after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion that toppled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein.

The company now boasts nearly 10 million subscribers and says its network covers 97 percent of Iraq’s population.

___

Follow Adam Schreck on Twitter at http://twitter.com/adamschreck

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[haiderpass]

Iraq Completes Submarine Cable Project



By John Lee.
The Iraqi Ministry of Communications says a submarine cable project linking Iraq with other countries has been completed.
The deputy minister of communications, Ameer al-Bayyati, told Al-Shorfa that the two-year, $36-million project, was completed by Gulf Bridge International, and will provide internet, telephone and television services at lower prices and with higher quality.

[elusive]

info about the project:

GBI lands undersea cable in Iraq
Fibre optic cable connection will help improve broadband services in the country

By Mark Sutton Published January 17, 2012

Gulf Bridge International (GBI) has announced that it has landed a cable in Iraq, the first subsea cable to connect the country.

The cable was landed at the Al Faw area, and will connect to The Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC).

GBI says that the cable network, which has a design capacity of 40G, will help to improve broadband penetration in Iraq, which currently is just 3%.

"This is a historic milestone for GBI and the people of Iraq," commented Rashid Al Noaimi, GBI's Chairman. "GBI's vision is to facilitate social and economic growth across the region, and as a result of this new connectivity, Iraq will once more be on an even footing with their neighbours in the Gulf. I am very proud of the GBI technical team, who overcame many challenges, which for years had prevented and delayed similar initiatives, to be the first company to successfully deploy a subsea connection in Iraq."

"The GBI cable is a crucial strategic initiative in the industry of subsea cables today using its impressive infrastructure to directly facilitate the development of all the countries connected to it," said Amir Al-Bayati, Deputy of the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company.

"This project is especially important to us as it will feed the ever growing hunger for capacity and connect the country to the rest of the world through the Gulf gateway. As an emerging market, Iraq has great development potential which comes as a result of the country's strategic location. In parallel with other projects the country is embarking on, this cable will facilitate Iraq's ability to realize its potential contributing not only to the development of the telecommunications sector in Iraq, but to the region as a whole."

GBI is the first privately owned submarine cable operator in the Middle East. The company is deploying a high capacity, fiber-optic communications cable network, which will connect Qatar, the UAE, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia, with connections to India in the East and Italy in the West.

"GBI is the first subsea cable company owned in the Gulf. We care about the region and are backed by investors who care about the region," said Ahmed Mekky, Board Member and CEO of GBI. "From a business standpoint, we are excited to connect to a market with such tremendous potential for growth. But beyond this, we are truly pleased to provide industry-leading infrastructure that can contribute to Iraq's recovery. ICT infrastructure is critical in driving economic and social development by providing greater access to information sharing, economic opportunity and learning."

[Ali - Iraq]

German IT firm set to boost Iraq operations
Posted on » Sunday, February 17, 2013

MANAMA: SAP, Germany's largest company and the world's leading business software company, has announced it is ramping up operations in Iraq.

"Iraq is an exciting market for SAP," said SAP Middle East North Africa managing director Sam Alkharrat, hailing the country's potential for IT-fuelled growth and outlined SAP's capacity to play an influential role in the process.

"This is a country where IT innovation can be truly transformational and provide the very basis for a more sustainable, connected and empowered future that not only capitalises on natural resources, but also serves as the basis for a diverse, knowledge-based economy," added Mr Alkharrat in Baghdad.

The company's current global growth strategy includes doubling its addressable market, reaching one billion people and generating global revenue of 20bn euros ($26.7bn) by 2015.

"SAP has a multi-pronged innovation agenda comprising synchronised investments in five interconnected elements: extending a leadership position in applications, broadening its footprint in analytics, expanding its reach through mobile, becoming a profitable leader in the cloud and growing the fastest in technology and database," Mr Alkharrat said.

The Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region is pivotal to SAP's strategy, with the company recently announcing a four-year additional spend plan across the region that entails hiring more than 500 additional employees, tripling the company's existing consulting capabilities, opening several new offices and expanding the partner ecosystem and the SAP University Alliances programme.

The plan also encompasses the region's first IT-specific Training and Development Centre, which will certify more than 2,000 new consultants within the next four years, as well as further accelerate and extend the localisation and Arabisation of SAP solutions. Iraq figures strongly in SAP's Mena expansion drive and, in February 2012, the company became one of the first companies to commit to an in-country business development presence.

[Ali - Iraq]

ALCATEL-LUCENT : and Iraq’s Regional Telecom to bring lightning-fast Internet access to the country with its first 4G LTE wireless broadband network
02/26/2013| 12:04pm US/Eastern

Next-generation services to boost economic development efforts in Iraq through the delivery of high-speed Internet access, high-definition video content and advanced online business applications

BARCELONA, Spain, February 26, 2013 -- Mobile World Congress 2013- Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) and Regional Telecom, a communications service provider in Northern Iraq, are to launch the nation's first 4G LTE network, providing the region with lightning-fast wireless broadband services including high-definition video streaming, high-speed Internet access and a range of business services.

The new network will be the first in Iraq to offer large-scale wireless broadband services, helping in the restoration of the nation's communication infrastructure impacted by the tough times of political unrest. The network will provide significant support to ongoing efforts to revive the Iraqi economy, bringing levels of connectivity needed for business, public sector and consumer applications.

Kawa Junad, Chairman of Regional Telecom, said: "Broadband services are the lifeblood of the modern digital economy, but Iraq has been without widely available broadband for more than a decade, in effect cutting off the country, our businesses and our citizens from the rest of the world. The introduction of 4G LTE services in Northern Iraq promises to change that, making a significant contribution to the country's efforts to rejoin the global community."

For the project, Alcatel-Lucent is providing its industry-leading end-to-end 4G LTE solution, including base stations, IP mobile backhaul for 4G LTE and existing 3G CDMA traffic, Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and elements of its platforms, which will allow Regional Telecom to introduce a rich portfolio of advanced IP-based services.

Amr K. El-Leithy Head of Middle East Africa, Turkey and Azerbaijan in Alcatel-Lucent said: "As a world leader in the innovation and delivery of 4G LTE networks, Alcatel-Lucent has the experience and expertise to support service providers in addressing the unique demands and expectations in the communities they serve - and this project with Regional Telecom is a perfect example. Our 4G LTE technology is helping meet customers' data needs in some of the world's busiest mobile broadband networks. At the same time we are also bringing broadband services to underserved regions to help promote economic growth and drive new business opportunities."

As global demand for Internet services continues to rise, Alcatel-Lucent is providing operators such as Regional Telecom with a clear, efficient broadband evolution path. Alcatel-Lucent's innovative lightRadio™ portfolio is designed with this in mind, and provides a framework for wireless networks that offer lightning fast data speeds while reducing operating costs and power consumption.

About Alcatel-Lucent and 4G LTE

With more than 35 LTE contracts for commercial deployments including two of the largest LTE network roll-outs, and engagement in more than 40 LTE trials worldwide, Alcatel-Lucent has established a strong global leadership position in 4G LTE.4G LTE solution.





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[Ali - Iraq]

Iran, Iraq, Syria sign telecommunication agreement

The file photo of optical fiber threads
Wed Mar 6, 2013 6:29AM GMT
3
16

8

Iran, Iraq and Syria have signed a tripartite telecommunication agreement aimed at establishing an optical fiber network linking the three countries.


The agreement was concluded by the representatives of the Telecommunication Infrastructure Company of Iran (TIC), Iraq’s Al-Sard Group and Syria Telecom at a meeting hosted by TIC in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on Tuesday.

Based on the telecommunication deal, data and voice signals will be transmitted from Iran to Iraq and then to Syria and European countries.

“In line with its international macro policies, TIC seeks to establish telecommunication connections with all neighboring countries and the new opportunity that will be created by the [planned] optical fiber via Iraq will have mutual benefits for the three countries and will also be highly beneficial for the region,” said TIC Managing Director Mahmoud Khosravi.

The project will enable Syria to utilize TIC’s network via a secure and reliable route for communicating with other countries across the world.

ASH/HSN/HJL

[haiderpass]

Ericsson Wins Iraq Network Expansion Deal
11 March 2013



By John Lee.
Swedish telecom company Ericsson has been selected to expand the Iraqi Telecom and Post Company’s (ITPC) wireline network with a transition to next generation network.

According to a report from Trade Arabia, the partnership strengthens the five-year relationship between the companies and positions Ericsson as the sole supplier for ITPC’s core network.

The expansion, which is the only wireline deployment in Iraq, will ultimately cater to an additional four million subscribers and provide enhanced quality of service.

Amir Al-Bayati, Deputy Minister of Communication for Technical Affairs in Iraq, said:

“Our aim is to always satisfy our customers with the best customer experience. This deployment is particularly exciting as it will put us one step closer to our goal of satisfying our customers and grow our network to nine million subscribers by 2015, adding four million subscribers to our subscriber base.

Ericsson first deployed the network, and choosing them for this expansion was a natural decision. We have all confidence in Ericsson capabilities to deliver beyond our expectations.“

Tarek Saadi, president, Ericsson North Middle East Region, commented:

“We are eager to build on the network and help ITPC modernize the service for current and future subscribers. ITPC’s customers will now embark into the first steps towards the Networked Society as broadband connectivity is introduced.“

ITPC currently has 1.7 million subscribers.