The contest for the two year contracts is likely to prove highly controversial, coming on the heels of a slanging match earlier this year over whether the country should have a GSM network, or opt for the US-backed CDMA standard.
The Coalition Provisional Authority, which has been administering Iraq since the US toppled the Saddam regime, yesterday asked for bids for licenses covering the southern, central and northern parts of the country. It said each applicant would be required to bid for at least two licenses, to encourage broad geographic coverage. It said it hoped the regional approach would ensure a rapid roll out of services.
A request for proposals will be issued in the week beginning July 28, and proposals will be required within 14 days.
Each license will be for 24 months. The CPA said it had opted for the shorter than normal period to give operators a chance to recover their investment, while enabling any future authority in Iraq to assume responsibility for long-term development of the telecoms infrastructure.
In May, US comms giant MCI clinched a $34m contract to built an interim GSM network, serving the US military and civil administrators and the emerging Iraqi administration. At the time, it was not clear if that network would extend beyond the Baghdad area.
The decision to go with a GSM network followed a campaign in March by US congressman Darrell Issa to force post-war authorities in Iraq to adopt a CDMA-based network. Issa claimed it would be unpatriotic to back the GSM standard over the US developed CDMA standard. This was despite the fact that the rest of the Middle East already uses the GSM standard.
Source: Computerwire
