A quick rollout of mobile telephone services in Iraq looks increasingly unlikely as the Pentagon probes alleged corruption in the awarding of licences, the Middle East Economic Survey (MEES) reported.
Iraq's ministry of communications had stressed the systems must be operational within two months when contracts were signed with three consortiums on Oct. 6.
Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding, Kuwait's National Mobile Telecommunications (AsiaCell) and Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Company (AtheerTel) were even put into a race where the first to establish a system in its designated area would then be able to start competing in the other two regions.
However, predictions that Iraq would have a mobile network in place by the end of the year "are looking increasingly unlikely, because the signing of the contracts has been delayed by a Pentagon investigation into allegations of corruption in the license awards," the newsletter says.
The Financial Times reported last week that two Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) officials and interim Telecommunications Minister Haidar al-Abbadi, were under investigations over allegations of bribery regarding the Orascom contract.
Orascom and partners deny paying any bribes as does Abbadi.
The industry newsletter quoted one of the unsuccessful bidders as saying: "There are just too many accusations flying around about special interest groups and individuals with certain connections. They will have to investigate the whole procedure even if it is just to show there is no impropriety.
MEES says: "The current inquiry, which is in a preliminary stage, is apparently being conducted by the Pentagon Inspector General's Office following claims that the contracts were awarded on the basis of political connections rather than on technical merit."
"As soon as the awards were made they sparked controversy with many alleging that the procedure was not sufficiently transparent and favored special interest groups particularly from within the current ruling circles in Iraq," adds the Cyprus-based newsletter.
Orascom has been chosen for the central region which includes Baghdad, AsiaCell for the north, and AtheerTel for the south.
Last week, Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co said its southern network has been delayed for security reasons, but insisted the project will go ahead.
Until the new systems are up and running, Iraq remains the only country in the Middle East and North Africa not to have a mobile network.
soft landing: The US’ rate-setting FOMC finds itself in a difficult situation as it seeks to address inflation through interest rate hikes while avoiding a recession The US Federal Reserve is widely expected to hold interest rates steady on Wednesday after a summer of mixed economic data, while leaving the door open to another hike if needed. The Fed has raised interest rates 11 times over the past 18 months, lifting its key lending rate to a level not seen for 22 years as it tackles inflation still stubbornly above its long-term target of 2 percent. Analysts and traders broadly expect the US central bank to hold rates steady on Wednesday in order to give policymakers more time to assess the health of the world’s largest economy. “We think
AI TREND: TSMC has been rapidly expanding capacity to meet a spike in demand for advanced packaging services, but still expects supplies to be tight for 18 months Arizona is in talks with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) about advanced chip packaging, state Governor Katie Hobbs said yesterday, which is crucial for the manufacturing of artificial intelligence (AI) chips. TSMC, which is building a US$40 billion chip factory in the US state, has not announced plans to build facilities for advanced chip packaging in the US. Advanced packaging processes stitch multiple chips together into a single device, lowering the added cost of more powerful computing. “Part of our efforts at building the semiconductor ecosystem is focusing on advanced packaging, so we have several things in the works around that
At a sprawling South Korean arms factory on Friday, a high-tech production line of robots and super-skilled workers were rapidly churning out weapons that could, eventually, play a role in Ukraine. Since the Russian invasion last year, the Hanwha Aerospace factory in the southern city of Changwon has expanded production capacity three times, workers told reporters, as South Korea ramps up arms exports while traditional behemoths like the US struggle with production shortages. Longstanding domestic policy bars Seoul from selling weapons into active conflicts, but even so it signed deals worth US$17.3 billion last year, including a US$12.7 billion agreement with NATO
Tailwinds: Blockbuster earnings at Nvidia Corp have sparked hopes of a tech sector boom; Taiwanese chipmakers are hopeful benefits will come to them too The worst could be over for the New Taiwan dollar as China’s economic recovery and a rebound in the chip industry will support the beleaguered currency, analysts said. The NT dollar is on course to weaken for a sixth month, the longest stretch since 2006, after foreign funds turned sour on its technology sector and risk sentiment deteriorated on slower growth in China. The tide seems to be turning now on nascent signs of stabilization in China’s economy — its biggest trading partner — following policy boosts. The yuan emerged as the best-performing Asian currency last week, followed by the Japanese yen