Etisalat to do battle with Zain in Iraq?

Much as Iraq is rarely out of the news, the country is rarely very far from my thoughts at the moment as we gear up for our GSM>3G Middle East event in Dubai this December.

I was prompted to think again about Iraq this morning by a call confirming a meeting tomorrow with Bob Fonow, now working with broadband service provider Trivon, which operates under the Virgin Connect brand in Russia. Bob has lately been an enthusiastic and high-value speaker at a number of Informa Telecoms & Media conferences, including some of our Com World Series gatherings. In a previous role, Bob was a Senior U.S. State Department official responsible for telecommunications reconstruction in Iraq, acting as a Senior Adviser to the Minister of Communications and Chief Executive of the Communications and Media Commission. In this role, Bob managed a staff of US State Dept technical experts and was responsible for funding decisions and program management of US funded telecom programs. Following that assignment, Bob was hired to mediate a dispute between the Iraqi shareholders of Zain Iraq and Zain's executive management in Kuwait concerning the provision of physical security for Zain's combined MTC Atheer and Iraqna GSM networks.

I am looking forward to learning a lot from Bob tomorrow. I think my questions will focus on two areas. Firstly, as my thoughts turn to our 2009 Russia & CIS Com conference, I'll be keen to get some fresh insights on the Russian broadband market and the currently high level of hype about the prospects for WiMAX in Russia. Secondly, ahead of the Dubai event, I'll be keen to get Bob's thoughts on the potential and the challenges of the Iraqi market. It will be good to get a solid briefing before meeting the several high-level execs who will be representing Iraqi operators on the panel of speakers in Dubai. These include Suleiman Lamaani the CEO of Itisaluna (an emerging nationwide operator providing fixed-line voice services, broadband, and VAS via CDMA 1x-EV-DO Rev. A) and CxOs from GSM operators Korek Telecom and Asiacell. Looking ahead to the future development of our event, it is my theory that vendor interest may become very sharply focused on under-connected, under-penetrated markets such as Iraq and Iran, whose incumbent mobile operator MCI will be represented at this year's conference by CEO Vahid Sadoughi. This may become a matter of urgency for network tech vendors as the oil-rich Gulf states' mobile markets all reach saturation point and 3G networks there achieve wide coverage.

Certainly, the Iraqi market is already a priority for giant rival Middle Eastern telcos. Zain is already present and I read today in a Cellular news story the UAE-based Etisalat is reported to be in talks to acquire an Iraqi mobile operator by the end of this year. The story quotes Etisalat COO Ahmad Julfar: "Iraq has a lot of potential because of the unavailability of fixed-line telephones because of war conditions."

Given the strong interest in Iraq from around and beyond the region, I am really glad that we've managed to get the Iraqi market so well represented on our panel of speaker for the Dubai show.

CDMA WLL carrier Itisaluna broadens Iraqi presence at GSM>3G Middle East discussions

The fact that I write this from Rio de Janeiro might seem to afford opportunities to say something about the many South American telcos whose representatives I will be meeting tomorrow and on Wednesday. I am out here for our annual Americas Com conference and exhibition, and look forward to the chance to meet old and new friends and contacts from here in Brazil and from markets such as Chile, Uruguary, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica. Today, however, we are occupied with the very practical side of getting the event set up, overseeing the construction of the exhibition stands, registration desk etc. We are also recovering from the vast quantities of meat it's customary to tuck into here at dinner time, and from the strength of the caipirinhas. In case any of this is making European readers a little envious, I should point out that the sky outside today is a hazy pale grey and that it's been raining all morning.

Despite the fact that I can see the grey, choppy Atlantic breaking on the Rio beach from my hotel window, I find my thoughts on one the Middle East's more challenging telecoms markets. This is because I just got the very welcome news that the Iraqi contingent on the panel of speakers at our GSM>3G Middle East event in Dubai (December) has now grown to three in total. Having announced CxO-level participants from both Asiacell and Korek Telecom last week, I can now confirm that a further participant joining us from Iraq will be Suleiman Lamaani, CEO of Itisaluna.

Itisaluna focusses on the provision of fixed-wireless voice and date services, having deployed a nationwide CDMA2000 - EVDO Rev. A network. The company states on its website that "this... will help improve social stability in Iraq and contribute to economic growth."

The confirmation of Mr Lamaani's involvement is really gratifying news for me for three reasons. Firstly, Iraq has, I think, been under-represented at previous iterations of our Dubai event - I think we have been remiss in not giving more coverage to a market where the telecoms sector has achieved remarkable growth in the most challenging environment possible. Secondly, as we quoted above in the case of Itisaluna, operators in markets with such a troubled recent history are active, crucial contributors to improving social and economic conditions. So we want to celebrate that at our conference. If anything that happens during the event makes it easier for Iraqi telcos to do business or attract further investment, we will be very pleased with that outcome. Finally, though for the forseeable future, we have no choice but to continue to give our Dubai conference the GSM>3G brand name, we do want to extend the range of technologies and services discussed. Having signed up Bahraini WiMAX-er MENA Telecom last week, it's welcome news that Itisaluna are also joining what was once thought of as purely a GSM community gathering.

Iraqi operator CxOs join speaker panel at GSM>3G Middle East

As my colleagues and I work to develop the Com World Series, one of the real pleasures of the job is getting the opportunity to meet people whose daily efforts are bridging the digitial divide in some of the most challenging markets imaginable. Anyone who has encountered Karim Khoja, CEO of Afghan mobile operator Roshan, will have been impressed by his passion for his company's contribution to the development of that troubled country. To my mind, Karim is rightly proud of running the one of Afghanistan's largest private employers and of the fact that a fifth of his workforce are women, something which was prohibited during the seven-year rule of the Taliban.


I have been fortunate enough to meet several members of Karim's management team, and have been interested to hear about the security and logistical challenges of living and working in Afghanistan. I have also met executives from Roshan's competitor Afghan Wireless. Their experiences are naturally pretty similar. As a daily communter into London, I am naturally in the habit of exchanging horror stories about travel delays and overcrowding with colleagues. The daily challenges faced by good folks at these two MNOs really do put my little travel problems in the shade.


Thus far, I have not had the chance to learn from telecoms people in the other country most associated in the popular imagination with conflict and a perilous security situation - Iraq. Today it looks as though that is set to change.


I recently asked my colleague Emily Cottam to assist me with gathering CxO-level speakers from a list of operators and countries that have traditionally been under-represented at our annual GSM>3G Middle East conference in Dubai (this year 15-16 December). Emily today received the welcome news that two of the mobile operators in Iraq have confirmed their participation. So, in December we be joined by Dr. Diar Ahmad, CEO of Asiacell and Dr. Hameed Akrawi, Deputy CEO of Korek Telecom. We are encouraging both to focus their presentations on the matter of rapidly expanding network reach and service availability in a cost-effective manner.


Both of these companies started their operations in Iraqi Kurdistan. Asiacell is the older business, first established in 1999 by Iraqi businessman Mr. Faruk Mustafa Rasool. Initially, network coverage was primarily around the Kurdistani city of Sulaimaniya. Wataniya Telecom(40%) and the United Gulf Bank (9%) have since become shareholders. Since October 7, 2003, the Iraqi Ministry of Telecommunications has allowed Asiacell to operate across Northern Iraq and expand into the rest of the country.


Korek Telecom, meanwhile, has continued to confine its operations to its home territory of Kurdistan. However, this looks set to change. Korek now has a national license but a network still limited to Iraqi Kurdistan. We understand that to maximise the value of the licence, Korek Telecom will need to expand to national coverage, maybe as part of a JV withEtisalat, which would give Korek access to the UAE incumbent's resources and international operating expertise to roll out a countrywide network that could compete with Zain and Asiacell. Given that both Korek Telecom and Etisalat will both be present at our conference in December, we get some clarity on that then if not before.