MTN Irancell ordered to boost coverage of disputed islands

MTN Irancell has been ordered by the Iranian government to expand coverage of its mobile network to Abu Musa and other disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, Dow Jones Newswires reports. Irancell’s public relations manager Arash Karimbeigi was quoted in local newspapers as saying that the company has an agreement with Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), the United Arab Emirates’ incumbent telecoms operator, to provide coverage in some areas of the Persian Gulf that are out of Irancell’s footprint, resulting in Iranian visitors to Abu Musa receiving SMS messages from the Etisalat network welcoming them to the UAE. Iran and the UAE both claim sovereignty over Abu Musa and two other islands, the Greater and Lesser Tunbsm, near the Strait of Hormuz. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database says that MTN Irancell is the country’s second largest wireless operator by subscribers, with a market share of 44.0% at the end of March 2012, behind market leader Mobile Communication Company of Iran (53.7%).