NCMC to licence new cellcos

According to news agency RCR News, Iraqi regulator the National Communications and Media Commission (NCMC) has revealed that its two main priorities for 2006 will be to licence new mobile and wireless local loop (WiLL) operators. The regulator launched an auction for WiLL concessions late last year, the deadline for which was the end of last week. State-owned telco Iraqi Telecommunication and Post Company (ITPC) has already been granted one of the licences, with the regulator planning to issue a further two concessions. There are currently three mobile operators in the country, Orascom Telecom Iraq Corp, Asiacell and MTC Atheer Telecom, which all use GSM technology.