Bidders for Iraqi mobile auction named

An auction for three new 15-year mobile network licences will be held by the Iraqi government this week in the Jordanian capital Amman. A fourth licence is expected to go to the Iraqi Ministry of Communications. The current temporary licences, held by Egypt’s Orascom Telecom (Iraqna), Kuwait’s MTC-Atheer and AsiaCell, owned by Kuwait’s Watanyia, have been extended several times, and are set to expire on 31 August. Of the ten firms said to have pre-qualified for the tender, five will compete in the auction: Atheer, Orascom, AsiaCell, Kurdish cellco Korek Telecom, and Turkey’s largest cellco by subscribers, Turkcell. The auction will take place over two days, with the winners to be announced on 18 August 2007.