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Contd. from page 24Central Asia, Eutelsat; PaulKhayat, Managing Director,Harris Caprock; Mohammed AbuHmaidan, Senior Sales Director,Intelsat; Fysal Gill, RegionalSales Director, O3B-SES; AbbasGhanem, Senior Sales ManagerMENA region, SpeedCast;Dr. Raied Nasser, Business &Technical Director, Tigrisnet;Emil Samarah, Regional DirectorMENA, and Ebrahim Alkeem,Country Manager, Yahsat; andother representatives of theIraqi communications sector.“Light-touch licensing isIraq Government coordinates with Satellite Industryincreasingly recognised bythe international regulatorycommunity to be an effectivemeans of expanding access tosatellite-based services,” saidMr. Jarrold. “In this regard,Iraq’s Ministry of Communicationsand the CMC have made aclear case that this approach isin Iraq’s best interest.”Throughout the Summit, H.E.Mohammed Tawfik Allawi madenumerous key points and confirmedimportant Administration5-year priorities, which setthe stage for the discussions:•• The Iraqi Administration’sprimary communications targetsinclude increased Internetpenetration throughoutthe country and expansionof e-Government networks;•• A key technology to achievethese objectives is satellitecommunications;•• The Iraqi Administrationwill continue its consultationwith GVF regarding the“Application for CommunicationsEarth Station License”for corporate networks, andblanket licensing for largeTeletimes ReportEricsson: Iraq is ready for mobile broadbandEricsson has reiterated thevast, untapped potentialof Iraq’s telecommunicationmarket. Speaking at the sixthIraq Telecom 2011, Ericsson’sExecutive Vice President for RegionMiddle East, Tunç Yorulmazhighlighted how the Iraqi marketis now ready to move towardsimplementing Mobile Broadbandconsidering its saturated voicemarket, increasing GDP percapita and increasing internetusage rates. During the event,Yorulmaz also reiterated thatthis move would contribute toEricsson’s plans for a NetworkedSociety that has already startedin the Middle East, anticipatingthat more than 50 billiondevices will be connected by2020 globally.The conference took place from25 – 27th October in Istanbul,Turkey, and gathered the industry’smost influential decisionmakersand senior telecomexperts as well as regional andinternational speakers. As aSilver sponsor, Ericsson leveragedthis opportunity to highlightthat the new technologyTunc Yorulmazimplementations in Iraq can fuelthe growth of the telecommunicationmarket, and positivelyimpact private and public businessesand government sectors,in addition to enhancing the endusers’ experience.“With the connected world thatwe currently live in, consumersare continuously in need ofenhanced services and experiencesand that’s exactly whatEricsson is constantly striving toachieve. With our goal to builda Networked Society, Ericsson isalways on the lookout for newpartnerships to work hand-inhandwith their customers toTarek Saadiprovide an enhanced end userexperience,” said Yorulmaz.In an effort to further developIraq’s telecom infrastructureand modernize and expand itsnetwork, Korek, the fastestgrowing mobile operator in Iraq,has recently selected Ericsson toimplement a network expansionand service quality improvementproject to prepare the networkfor 3G and LTE/4G. Through thisagreement, Ericsson’s role is todeploy and integrate new radiobase stations across the countryand thereby provide a higherperformance and a better servicequality for the entire Iraqipopulation.Tarek Saadi, President and Headof Ericsson North Middle East,said “The Iraqi market has greatuntapped potentials which aregradually being explored andutilized. As Iraqi operators areincreasingly developing theirnetworks to prepare them to3G and LTE, we believe thatit’s also time to move towardsMobile Broadband and leverageon these existing developmentsin order to keep up with the fastdeveloping telecom market globallyas well as regionally.”Ericsson has been present in Iraqsince November 2003 duringwhich they were selected to supplya GSM mobile network forKorek. A year later, the companysigned a contract with anotherGSM operator, ITPC, and due tothe situation in Iraq, operationswere carried out remotely fromDubai. In January 2006, EricssonIraq operations were combinedwith Ericsson Jordan at onebranch office located in Amman,and three years later in 2009 Ericsson’sErbil office was officiallyinaugurated.VSAT network deploymentsthroughout the nation;•• MoC will promote deliveryof Voice over IP (VoIP)services;•• The Minister outlined hisvision for CMC to act as afully independent regulatorybody;•• Transparency of Iraq’sregulatory process is of paramountimportance, and aconsultation process will beimplemented soon regardingIraq’s frequency allocationtable.December 2011www.teletimesinternational.com25