BAGHDAD - The government Wednesday slapped fines totalling more than 20 million dollars on the three mobile phone operators in Iraq for poor service and not honouring contracts. The Zain group, which is Kuwaiti owned, bore the brunt of the fines and was ordered to pay 18.6 million dollars, with Korek to pay 1.2 million dollars and Asiacell fined 1.1 million.
“The bad service provided by these companies” was the reason for the fine, said government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh in a statement. “They should respect the contracts and the conditions laid down by the government.”
The mobile phone market has exploded since the US-led invasion of 2003. The customer base of Zain and Asiacell has shot up over the past two years from a combined total of 300,000 subscribers to a massive 10 million.
But coverage is often patchy, with a shortage of relay stations, including in Baghdad. Asiacell and Korek, which operates in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, are Iraqi owned.
