Asia-Cell starts mobile operations in northern Iraq
Posted: 23 December 2003
New era marked in Iraq telecommunications sector as Asia-Cell
predicts strong market growth in northern Iraq
Asia-Cell, the consortium of Kuwait’s Wataniya Telecom,
Asia-Cell Telecom and United Gulf Bank of Bahrain, today announced
the start of its license for mobile operations in Northern Iraq.
The licence, awarded by the Coalition Provision Authority (CPA)
and the Iraqi Ministry of Telecommunications on 7 October 2003,
appoints Asia-Cell to provide GSM services to Iraq’s Northern
region for the next two years. Initial services will be available
in Sulyaminya, Kirkuk and Mosul with complete coverage of the Northern
region expected within a six month period of the launch. Shortly
after, Asia-Cell customers will be able to use national roaming
for full Iraq coverage, pending completion of the southern and central
networks in the country.
“We are very happy to mark the official start of the Northern
Iraq license, as it is a vital step in the reconstruction of Iraqi
telecommunications.” said Faisal Al- Ayyar, Chairman, Wataniya
Telecom. “We have been very pleased so far with the progress,
due to the existing established infrastructure and extensive knowledge
of our local partner. As we intend to have a long-term commitment
to Iraq, we see it as vitally important to transfer management and
operational experience to the local employees, a strategy consistent
to all of our operations in the region.”
Rapid mobile adoption is predicted, with an estimated 500,000 new
customers expected to take-up new lines in the first year of operation.
The consortium has been able to provide the much-needed services
immediately due to the existing network infrastructure of its local
partner, Asia-Cell Telecom. Asia-Cell Telecom already has an active
subscriber-base of customers who will be transferred to the new
network. The new Siemens and Huawei infrastructure will be deployed
starting immediately and has been designed to provide network expansion
quickly without compromising stability of services.
The Iraq license has been significant for Wataniya Telecom in
its strategy to expand and develop its regional presence. The company’s
regional portfolio of mobile operations now includes; Kuwait (Wataniya
Telecom), Tunisia (Tunisiana), Iraq (AsiaCell) and Algeria (Wataniya
Télécom Algérie). Wataniya Telecom has a proven
track record of bringing competition to markets, quickly deploying
solid GSM networks with value-added services and providing affordable
mobile services to consumers.
Wataniya Telecom will be operating through Asia-Cell’s current
points of sale and will be expanding the channel, adding more resources
to cope with the new network. Asia-Cell will be providing prepaid
lines at a US$ 95 connection fee and billed at US$ 0.08 or US$ 0.09
per minute. Wataniya Telecom will seek opportunities in the near
future to extend network coverage throughout Iraq, as the requirements
for the contract with the CPA are fulfilled.
About Wataniya Telecom
Launched in December 1999 as the second licensed GSM provider, Wataniya
Telecom is the leading mobile communications company in the State
of Kuwait. With a market capitalization exceeding US $2.4 billion,
the Company has been a driving force in increasing the mobile communications
market penetration in Kuwait to over 60 percent of the population.
With over 800,000 subscribers in Kuwait and 380,746 in Tunisia,
Wataniya Telecom has built its success on a customer focused strategy
built on the philosophy that everything the company does must bring
it closer to its customer.
Wataniya Telecom is a member of the KIPCO Holding group. KIPCO
Holding has assets of more than US$10 billion under management or
control, is one of the leading diversified holding companies in
the Middle East and North Africa, and a major regional force in
financial services, media and technology, with further interests
in real estate and finance. The largest private sector company in
Kuwait, KIPCO employs more than 10,000 people internationally. Its
shares are publicly traded on the Kuwait Stock Exchange.
Posted by Richard Price,
Editor Pipeline Magazine
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