Zain considering offers to manage Iraqi network

Kuwaiti telecoms group Zain is considering a number of tender offers to manage the network of its subsidiary in Iraq and will likely award the contract in the next few weeks, Arabian Business reports, citing an unnamed company spokesperson. Zain refused to name bidders for the managed service agreement, but said there were at least three, with international players such as Finnish vendor Nokia Siemens Networks, China’s Huawei Technologies and Ericsson of Sweden reported as likely candidates. According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Zain Iraq is the country’s largest mobile operator by subscribers with a total 12.065 million users at the end of March 2011, equating to a market share of 51.8%. The company – then known as Atheer Telecoms – launched commercial operations in March 2004 under the Atheer banner and using GSM equipment supplied by Nokia.