The Iraqi government is selling off a fourth mobile licence and has called on would-be licensees to submit expressions of interest by the end of next week.
The country’s Communications and Media Commission (CMC) has invited international mobile operators to express their interest in the award by midday on 20 November.
The available licence will be technology-neutral and have a 15-year duration. The CMC said it will award the licen ce via a competitive allocation process, but did not share further details at this stage. Companies that meet its prequalification criteria will be provided with further information on the bidding process, the CMC said.
The CMC said it has a range of spectrum, but did not specify whether this will all be allocated to the new licensee. It has 2×7.5 MHz of 900-MHz spectrum, 2×22.5 MHz at 1800 MHz, 2×10 MHz at 1900 MHz/2.1 GHz, and 20 MHz of unpaired spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band.
As it stands, Iraq is served by three main mobile network operators, which together had 31.2 million customers in the first quarter of this year, according to third-party statistics provided by the CMC. The CMC puts mobile penetration at 95.7% as of 2014.
There is "considerable growth potential" in Iraq, the CMC said, noting that mobile penetration is "relatively low compared to regional peers, most of which are well in excess of 100% penetration, driven by growth in [the] multi-SIM phenomenon."
It expects data usage to take off as the operators roll out 3G services, having received licences a year ago.
Market leader Zain launched 3G services this year. According to the CMC’s data, its overall customer base stood at 13.6 million in Q1, putting it ahead of Asiacell with 11.2 million. Korek is somewhat smaller with 6.4 million customers.
