• Home
• /
• Business

Batelco pressing ahead with Iraq mobile phone licence bid

Acting Batelco Chief Executive, Sameer Nooruddin said "the company is excited about the prospect of securing a mobile phone licence in Iraq and establishing a regional network, which in time could be expanded into a nationwide system.

"There is huge demand for telecommunications services in Iraq reflected in Batelco's temporary phone system in Baghdad handling more than 8,000 calls during the first two days," Mr Nooruddin said.

Mr Nooruddin and senior managers at Batelco welcomed the mobile phone team home this week after they had spent almost four weeks installing and maintaining Baghdad's first private GSM mobile phone network. The team comprising Mark Woodard - Satellite Radio Systems Manager, Hussein El Jamry - Technical Team Leader, Radhi Abdulla - Technical Team Leader, and AbdulHussein Al Asfour - Mobile Technician, said the most challenging and dangerous aspect of the job was inspecting buildings, some of which were discovered to be unstable, for suitable sites on which to install mobile base stations.

Mr Nooruddin said "Batelco is proud of the GSM team who demonstrated great courage working in difficult circumstances to fill the telecommunications void in Baghdad.

"The GSM team's experience on the ground in Iraq is invaluable because they have already demonstrated Batelco's ability to install a mobile network in Baghdad," he said.