Talk is not cheap in Iraq

2004-01-12 12:30

Baghdad, Iraq - Mobile phones fill the display cases of Monadhel al-Obedi's shop - from high-end Nokias with cameras to bare-bones Alcatels.

Price too high? "No problem," al-Obedi says, offering a smile and a discount.

Baghdad's first mobile network will be up and running in a matter of weeks, say officials from the Iraqi Governing Council and the US-led occupation. And dealers say they've sold hundreds of phones and fielded thousands of inquiries from potential customers.

It has been nine months since the US-led forces toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein, but Iraq still has virtually no phone service. Saddam never allowed cellphones and the land line telephones were rendered useless after US bombs pulverised Baghdad's major telecom switches.

With phones, officials predict, will come fatter economic times.

"It will be easier to do business, to call clients, to place orders - cheaper," Communications Minister Haydar al-Abadi said.

But such optimism is tempered by a heavy dose of high-priced reality.

The handsets start at $80 (about R530) and the activation fee is $70. Factor in a monthly fee of $10, plus 8 cents to 10 cents a minute for calls, and the charges start to add up

"It's too much," says Suren Aslan, who runs a small photo shop. "I want one - we all want one - but I can't give them money that I do not have."

"If I need to get more cigarettes, what do I do? Do I call to get more?" asked cigarette vendor Mahmoud Rahimi. "No, I pay someone to go and give a message and then the cigarettes come."

Does he plan to get a phone? "Thinking about it," he says.

Coalition officials say they are hoping that phones will give ordinary Iraqis the anonymity to call in with tips about insurgent activity. Many Iraqis fear they will be targeted by rebels if they are seen dealing with US forces.

Al-Abadi says that service providers are charging the maximum allowed "because they want to make their money back," but prices are expected to drop as competition grows.

Three Middle Eastern companies won bids for licenses in October.

In Baghdad and central Iraq, a consortium headed by an Egyptian telecommunication company, Orascom, will operate the IRAQNA, or "our Iraq," network.

In the south, about 25 000 temporary wireless phones are being operated by AtheerTel, a joint venture between the Kuwaiti wireless company MTC, and private Kuwaiti and Iraqi investors.

AsiaCell, operating with Kuwaiti and Bahraini partners in Kurdish areas before Saddam fell, has begun extending services to northern areas.

The companies are all operating with the GSM phone standard used in Europe and the Middle East and have each put up a refundable $30m bond for the licenses.

Collectively, they also will pay $9m to fund a wireless regulatory agency.

Over the summer, Bahrain's Batelco, spent $5m setting up a wireless network in Baghdad without the permission of the coalition, which ordered the company to cease service.

- AP