By John Lee. The Iraqi Ministry of Communications, under the direct supervision of Minister Dr. Hayam Al-Yasiri, announced the signing of a contract for the deployment of the 2Africa Pearls undersea cable. The agreement, signed with Gulf Submarine Cables Company owned by Saudi Arabia's STC, aims to route internet capacities from around the world through […]
By Dr. Joel Ruet, for Diplomatic Courier. Any opinions expressed are those of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of Iraq Business News. Foreign investment undermined by corruption risks in Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan was once seen as a beacon of promise in the troubled country, but things have changed in recent […]
By John Lee. The International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has released its findings in the arbitration case between Iraq Telecom Limited, a subsidiary of Kuwait's Agility Public Warehousing Company KSCP, and International Holdings Limited, an affiliate of Agility, as claimants; and Korek Telecom Limited and Sirwan Saber Mustafa Barzani, […]
By John Lee. [Amended 7th Oct 2021 to include comment from Korek Telecom.] UAE-based Agility has announced an arbitration decision by the Lebanese Arbitration Center of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture of Beirut and Mount Lebanon, in the lawsuit filed by its subsidiary Iraq Telecom against the Intercontinental Bank of Lebanon (IBL) and […]
Kuwaiti-based logistics provider Agility has said foreign investors "should think carefully about the perils of investing" in Iraq, following a ruling by an international arbitration panel to deny its claims that Iraqi officials expropriated $380 million invested by Agility in an Iraqi telecom company. The ruling, by a panel constituted by the International Centre for […]
By John Lee. French telecoms company Orange Group has reportedly launched legal proceedings against the Iraqi government with the International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), part of the World Bank, for more than $400m that it alleges was expropriated by the country's regulator. The case relates to the company's investment in Korek, the […]
By John Lee. Court filings in the United States have reportedly shed new light on corruption in Iraq. Louis Auge, of EU Reporter, writes that two members of Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC) recieved houses in London in return for their role in the expropriation of over $800 million from French telecom firm Orange […]
By John Lee. Iraq is reportedly seeking $307 million [358 billion Iraqi dinars] from each of the country's three mobile phone operators for spectrum to run 3G (third-generation) services. According to Reuters, all three operators – Zain Iraq (owned by Kuwait's Zain), Asiacell (owned by Ooredoo) and Korek (Orange) – paid $1.25 billion each for so-called "technology-neutral" […]
By Patrick M Schmidt. Despite more than a three year delay and the current security situation in Iraq, Zain has announced that they still intend to commit to their initial public offering. "Against the backdrop of security and safety issues, Zain Iraq is today mainly focused on maintaining its network and providing much needed mobile […]
By John Lee. Ahmed Alomary, a former commissioner at the Communications and Media Commission (CMC), told Reuters that Iraq plans to auction third-generation (3G) telecommunications licences for a minimum of $307 million each. Current 2G services are supplied by Zain Iraq (a unit of Kuwait's Zain), Asiacell (a subsidiary of Ooredoo) and Orange affiliate Korek, who […]
By John Lee. French-based telecommunications company Orange has said that it expects rapid customer and revenue growth in Iraq, where it took a 20 percent stake in mobile operator Korek two years ago. Marc Rennard (pictured), the company's executive vice president for Africa, the Middle East and Asia, told Reuters: "We have just reached five […]
