IRAQ | Telecommunication Sector

[BigDreamer]

Hi everyone

I've been noticing that there are much more news nowadays about Iraq's fast growing Telecom sector. So I thought it would be a good idea to have a dedicated thread for it

[BigDreamer]

Fanoos maps out Iraq WiMAX rollout
By Nick Wood, Total Telecom
Thursday 21 October 2010

CDMA operator aims to complete deployment of its high-speed wireless network by year-end.

Iraqi mobile operator Fanoos Telecom on Thursday said it aims to complete the deployment of its WiMAX network by year-end.

The CDMA operator said it will begin by rolling out high-speed wireless broadband coverage in the cities of Sulaimaniyah, Mosul, and Kirkuk.

"This move is part of our strategy to offer the best wireless broadband services in Iraq," said a statement from Hiwa Rauf, CEO of Fanoos Telecom.

Headquartered in Sulaimaniyah and operating in northern Iraq, the company said it currently has over 250,000 mobile voice customers. Total mobile subscribers in Iraq reached 20.31 million at the end of 2009, according to a report published in July by Business Monitor International.

Fanoos said its WiMAX network will use core network switching equipment supplied by Tellabs.

"Fanoos Telecom is an exciting mobile operator, leading the way in a challenging market," said Rehan Jalil, senior vice president of IP and mobile Internet at Tellabs.

Tellabs' platform is designed to provide content, user and context-aware information to operators, enabling them to optimise the network's performance and monetise new services.

"The interoperability of the Tellabs SmartCore platform enables us to develop a complete network and avoid single vendor lock-in," commented Fanoos Telecom's Rauf.

[BigDreamer]

France Telecom eyes stake in Iraq's Korek

Nov 25 (Reuters) - France Telecom (FTE.PA) is in talks to buy a minority stake in Korek Telecom, Iraq's third-largest mobile phone operator, as part of a strategy to expand in the Middle East, the Financial Times reported on Thursday.

The newspaper cited people familiar with the situation saying the deal could give Korek an enterprise value of $1.5 billion and France Telecom could eventually acquire a controlling stake in the company.

France Telecom was not available to comment.

Korek, based in Iraq's Kurdish-run north, competes with Zain (ZAIN.KW) and AsiaCell, which is partly owned by Qatar Telecommunications (QTEL.QA).

The mobile phone market has boomed since the U.S.-led invasion of 2003 that toppled Saddam Hussein, with the total customer base of the main providers tripling to around 10 million consumers in the past two years.

France Telecom, Europe's third-largest telecoms operator, began looking for emerging-market opportunities as a way to offset sluggish demand and intense competition in Europe.

It plans to double revenue in emerging markets by 2015, largely through acquisitions.

In September it bought a 40 percent stake in Moroccan telecoms company Meditel, putting it in competition with Vivendi (VIV.PA), the majority owner of Morocco's former telecoms monopoly, Maroc Telecom (IAM.CS).

[MKTJ]

I thought Etisalat was interested in Korek!

[BigDreamer]

yes I remember that. I dunno what happened.

there is also a fourth license that will be offered. maybe Etisalat is bidding for it.

[MKTJ]

Why people keep saying a fourth license?!

We already have four operators: Zain, Asiacell, Korek, and Itisaluna.

[sheytanElKebir]

itisaluna (and others like furat, omniya etc...) are not GSM and covered by a different licence (they are classified as ISPs / fixed line companies, even though in practice you can use their CDMA handsets as mobiles!).

[sheytanElKebir]

New Fiber-Optic Broadband for Amara
Posted on 29 November 2010. Tags: Amara, broadband, Internet, Maysan, Missan, Telecommunications

The Maysan Communications Department has embarked on a project to set up a fiber-optic communications network in the city of al-Amara, according to a report from Aswat al-Iraq.
“Engineers and technicians in the department started works on a project to build a high-quality fiber-optic communications network,” Ali Mahmoud, head of the department, told the agency.
“The project’s first stage will cover al-Askari, al-Jami’e and al-Jihad neighborhoods in central Amara, while the second will cover the neighborhoods of al-Sadiq, al-Ardat, al-Oufiya, al-Risala, al-Wihda al-Islamiya, al-Fatimiya and al-Nida’a,” he added.


once again... investing their effort in the last mile, while ignoring the elephant in the room

[sheytanElKebir]

The Anbar Investment Commission said on Tuesday said that it plans to provide internet services to its citizens at affordable prices.
Arkan Khalaf al-Tarmouz, the chairman of the committee, told AKnews that the investment project will provide a high-speed internet service at a cost of $70 per month [82,000 Iraqi dinars], eventually falling to 10,000 Iraqi dinars [$8.50] per month.
The project will be implemented by the “Smart Link” company from Jordan, and the “Shadow” company from Iraq.
“The contract will be signed this week with the Ministry of Communication and an investment license will be granted to the company, after two months the station will be established in Anbar, and the company will give part of the profits to the Ministry of Communications according to the contract, at the rate of 20-30%.”

[IraqSpirit]

[sheytanElKebir]

Iraq adopts pre-paid system for landline phones
Text size

By Saman Dazzayi

Baghdad - The Iraqi Communications ministry said on Wednesday that it will transfer the bill paying system of landline phones to pre-paying system starting from next Thursday by installing a high-level scientific program.

Samir Ali Hassoun, the ministry spokesman told AKnews that his ministry has contracted with the Hawaii Chinese company to set up an advanced program to convert the payment, and the contract's value will be determined later.

The Communications Ministry said about a month ago that the new phone lines include many advanced services such as the Internet and video services and quick dial to develop the land phone services.

"The landline phones will work after four months on cards that are used to re-charge mobile phones to end the issue of landlines debts."

The Ministry of Communications stated last January that it will develop two million land lines next March, after importing sophisticated ground pedals of type NGN.

The estimated number of communications lines currently working in Iraq is about 800,000 lines of a million and a half million landline.

"The prices of the re-charging cards will begin from 5,000 dinars (about $ 4) to 20,000 dinars."

"I rate of the call will reach to five dinars per minute."

The Communications ministry focus on the need of developing the work of landlines and upgrading the service to reach all regions and districts in the country.

The Ministry of Communications reduced the rates of landline bills by 80%.

It is noteworthy that most of the public pedals responsible for the landline phones were destroyed during the war on Iraq in 2003, and this caused the interruption of the lines in most areas.

The Ministry of Communications in 2008 prompted the citizens not to use the landline phones because of the expensive calls when it identified the hight prices of calls.

[Gzdvtz]

Hi, I'm wondering if you have information about the internet infrastructure in Iraq? For example internet penetration, speeds, stuff like that.

[BigDreamer]

here is the bit from World Internet Usage Stats:

29,671,605 population (2010) - Country size: 434,128 sq km

Capital City: Bagdad - population 5,402,486 (2010)

325,000 Internet users as of June/10, 1.1% penetration, per ITU.

270,560 Facebook users on August 31/10, 0.9% penetration rate

http://www.internetworldstats.com/middle.htm

[elusive]

wow i was under the impression more people have access to the internet, that's so bad.

[sheytanElKebir]

that number looks very wrong. just the university students alone exceed that. not to mention all the office wasters.... without delving into the home users...

there are a large number of ISPs in iraq (both wired and wireless).

wired includes modem, ISDN, ADSL. but is really not prevalent.
most people use directional wifi, CDMA/EVDO and WiMAX.
Some companies use dedicated satellite earth stations and VSATs.

i reckon there should be a couple of million users at the minimum.

some ISPs (but there are many more).
http://www.iq.zain.com/iq/?lang=en
http://www.itisaluna.com/node/1
http://www.kalimattelecom.com/en/
http://www.earthlinktele.com/

the government "Iraqi Telecom and Postal Company" ITPC ISP.
http://www.iraqimoc.net/internet.htm

but this is not an exhaustive list by any means!

[BigDreamer]

I agree, i think the numbers are off too

but 2 million is still very bad !

[Persi]

Iraq Signs Fiber-Optic Telecom Agreement

14 February 2011.

The Iraqi Communications Ministry has signed a preliminary agreement with the Saudi company STC to link Iraq to Turkey and Saudi Arabia by an optical cable system.

Official ministry spokesman Samir Ali Hassoun told AKnews that this initial agreement determines the financial aspects of the deal.

The Ministry of Communications has been working for a long time on extending the existing optical cable network to provide advanced electronic communications in the country in the near future.

The internal structure of the Iraqi telecom network was badly damaged in April 2003 during the violence and looting that followed the US-led toppling of the former regime.

[sheytanElKebir]

Zain telecom fined $262M

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/...71E1BY20110215

their crime? selling 5 million simcards without permission?? what kind of crime is that?

[kurd123]

So the corrupted person in charge of the 'license' didn't get his cut of the profit?

[sheytanElKebir]

sick sick country.

the structures of government ministries are rotten to the core. There's no repairing them.