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Licensed Iraqi cell phone companies need permit to
operate in Kurdistan region
16.8.2007
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August 16, 2007
Erbil-Hewler, Kurdistan region (Iraq), -- The
cell phone network companies licensed by the Iraqi
government should seek a permit from the region's
government to work within the borders of Kurdistan
region, a source from Iraq's Kurdistan
Telecommunication Ministry said on Wednesday only
one day before an auction planned in Amman for
companies to get licensed for cell phone networks in
Iraq.
"A company seeking to set up cell phone services in
Kurdistan region should apply for a permit from the
region's government even if it was licensed to work
through out the country by the central government,"
Omid Mohammed Saleh, media spokesman for Kurdistan
Telecommunication Ministry, said.
The Kurdish official said "the region's
Telecommunications ministry had earlier informed the
Iraqi Telecommunications Ministry that all companies
desirous to work within Kurdistan should apply for a
license from the region's government." |
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The media spokesman for Kurdistan Telecommunications
Ministry also said that his ministry imposes a tax
reaching up to $1.75 per subscriber a year.
The Iraqi government announced on Tuesday that an
auction would be held next Thursday in the Jordanian
capital Amman for selecting three companies which
will set up three networks of mobile phones in Iraq.
"The cabinet discussed during today's session the
auction of the mobile phones and steps taken for
providing legal and legitimate circumstances for the
success of the auction," the spokesman for the Iraqi
government Ali al-Dabagh said.
"Five companies will compete in the auction: Atheer,
Orascom, Asiacell, Korek and Turkcell," he added.
"The auction is due on Thursday August 16," he also
said.
The spokesman asserted the government's keenness on
implementing the operation with transparency,
professionalism and neutrality.
"Iraqi citizens may possess as much as 45% of the
three companies' shares, and the Iraqi government
would receive 18% of the companies' annual profits,"
al-Dabagh said in the statement.
Since 1991, the Kurds of Iraq achieved self-rule in
part of the country. Kurdistan region has all the
trappings of an independent state -- its own
constitution, its own parliament, its own flag, its
own army, its own border with the rest of Iraq, its
own border patrol, its own national anthem, its own
education system, even its own stamp inked into the
passports of visitors.
VOI
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