Research and Markets: Iraq Telecommunications Report Q4 2011 - Increase in competition among the operators

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f9dc71/iraq_telecommunica) has announced the addition of the "Iraq Telecommunications Report Q4 2011" report to their offering.

BMI's Q411 report on Iraq's telecommunications market provides a comprehensive overview of the latest developments to occur within the country's mobile, fixed-line telephony and internet sectors. This quarter sees no further change to our forecasts depicting how the fixed-line telephony and internet markets will develop over the next five years. However, we have made some minor changes to our forecast for the development of Iraq's mobile subscriber market. Our new forecast for the mobile market incorporates the latest subscriber data, published by the country's two largest operators, Zain Iraq and Asiacell, for Q211. Data on these two operators is published by Kuwait's Zain Group and by Qatar Telecom (for Asiacell). We continue to estimate the number of subscribers served by Iraq's smaller mobile operators, including the Kurdistan-based cellco Korek Telecom.

Based on the data available, we estimate that Iraq had just more than 24mn mobile subscribers at the end of June 2011. This reflected a growth rate of 2.0% q-o-q and 10.4% y-o-y. Q211 continued the remarkable subscriber growth rates that were recorded in Q410 and Q111. The return to healthier rates of subscriber growth followed a lull in Q310. BMI attributes the stronger growth rates to network expansion investments by the operators, and by an increase in competition among the operators. In the future, BMI expects competition to be main factor driving mobile subscriber growth in Iraq.

In addition to the arrival of France Tlcom through the acquisition of a minority stake Korek Telecom, we expect the possible award of a fourth mobile licence to boost competition. Our new mobile subscriber forecast for Iraq envisages just more than 25mn users at the end of 2011, equivalent to a penetration rate of 75.6%. By the end of 2015, we predict that Iraq's mobile penetration rate will have risen to almost 93%.

Read more inside Iraq Telecommunications Report Q4 2011

Companies Mentioned:

• Iraqi Telecommunication & Post Company (ITPC)
• Zain Iraq (Formerly MTC Atheer)
• Asiacell Communications (Asiacell)

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/f9dc71/iraq_telecommunica

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Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

KEYWORDS:   Middle East  Iraq

INDUSTRY KEYWORDS:   Technology  Telecommunications

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