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CPA to begin taking bids for cell phone network
By: Mark Gordon-James
Published date: 20/7/2003
More than two months since the official end of hostilities, the Coalition Provisional Authority has announced a bidding timetable for the award of contracts for the building of a mobile phone network in Iraq. Three contracts will be issued by the CPA on behalf of Iraq's Northern, Central and Southern regions. Bidding closes on 11th August.
Only one license will be awarded per region. Because each applicant is 'encouraged to bid for at least two regional licenses to encourage broad regional coverage', the likely result will be a monopoly position for a single operator. However, the contract term will be merely 24 months, a period designed to give the winner enough time to make a return on investment.
The winner of the central region, home to Baghdad and what is expected to be Iraq's largest regional mobile market, is likely to reap the greatest financial benefit from the award.
Iraq is one of a handful of countries in the world to lack a mobile phone infrastructure, seven others of which are in Africa. While the Baathist regime had no objection to mobile telephones prior to the war, sanctions prevented import of the infrastructure.
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Published date: 20/7/2003
Author: Mark Gordon-James
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