By John Lee.
Reuters reports that Iraq’s mobile phone companies have agreed to demands from the country's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) to pay $307 million each for radio spectrum to run 3G mobile phone networks.
Current 2G services are supplied by Zain Iraq (a unit of Kuwait’s Zain), Asiacell (a subsidiary of Ooredoo) and Orange affiliate Korek, who each paid $1.25 billion for their licences in 2007.
Revenue growth in the sector has stagnated in recent years, largely because the government delayed permission for the three national operators to launch 3G services.
But a senior source told Reuters that the companies have now agreed to this fee, and had made downpayments of $73 million in recent days, with the remainder to be paid in four installments over the next18 months.
(Source: Reuters)
(Phone image via Shutterstock)
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