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Atheer details plans in Iraq

DUBAI - Following this week's announcement by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq that Atheer Telecommunications had won the licence to provide a mobile telecoms network in the Southern region of Iraq, Atheer Telecommunications yesterday outlined more details about their plans.

Whilst Atheer Telecommunications is to be operated and managed by MTC, the leading mobile telecommunications operator in Kuwait, the key investments are split evenly on a 50:50 ratio between Iraqi investors and Kuwait investors. The Iraqi investment will come via a new company, Digla Telecommunications Company (DTC), a consortium of Iraqi businessmen set up following the liberation of Iraq. The MTC Group of Companies together with a Kuwaiti company, Kharafi National, make up the remaining 50 per cent of the partnership.

In commenting on the consortium and new network, Dr Saad Al Barrak, Director General of MTC, and speaking on behalf of Atheer Telecoms, said, "Our consortium has been appointed on the strength of our Iraqi partnership and also on the strength of MTC's reputation and history for delivering a service its customers ask for."

"We believe that through our regional presence we can offer the Iraqi people a full service that makes them totally accessible with other Arab nations and closer to home with their friends and families. Only a tiny percentage of households in Iraq, let alone the southern region, have a phone line or access to telephony as a whole. To make Iraq work as a truly dynamic economically strong country that can contribute freely to the Arab economy as a whole we clearly have to provide the tools. The primary tool has to be real communication."