WASHINGTON-As suspected due to last week’s Pentagon press conference, the Coalition Provisional Authority has changed the rules regarding government ownership of telecommunications companies wanting to offer mobile-phone service in Iraq from 5 percent to 10 percent.
“No government shall directly or indirectly own more than 10 percent of any single bidding company or single company in a consortia,” reads a section titled “Company Requirements” available on the Internet at http://cpa-Iraq.org
The change in percentage may allow more participation but may not qualm the criticism the CPA received at the bidders conference in Amman, Jordan, July 31 because the 10-percent amount would still eliminate some prominent players. For example, the Bahrain Telecommunications Co. is 80-percent controlled by the government of Bahrain. Batelco has established an Iraqi subsidiary, which has a 30-percent Iraqi investment, set up a network and briefly last month offered GSM service. Batelco was ordered by the CPA to shut down its network because it was operating without a license.
The CPA also extended by one week the deadline for mobile-phone license bids. Bids are now due by 10 a.m. Aug. 21.
The CPA expects to award three regional licenses in September. According to bidding information available at cpa-Iraq.org, licensees will have 20 days to turn on initial service. Service is not considered on until 95 percent of the calls in both directions go through. Bidders will outline how they will meet specific benchmarks, which will become part of the conditions of the license. The licenses cannot be sold or expanded nationwide until the 12-month benchmarks are met.
Bidders may apply to use GSM, CDMA or third-generation technology but must show how they will facilitate roaming within Iraq with other regional licensees and with other Middle Eastern carriers. Currently no carrier in the Middle East uses CDMA technology.
The only company authorized to offer mobile-phone service is the MCI division of bankrupt WorldCom Inc. MCI received authority from the Department of Defense to operate a mobile-phone network. MTC-Vodafone is operating in Basra at the behest of the British military, which controls that southern city. Kurdtel is operating a holdover network in the Kurdish area in northern Iraq.
Other areas of Iraq did not previously have mobile-phone service.
