Iraq Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: December 2023

Report Pages: 117

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

LTE launches in Iraq marred by legal issues

Iraq continues to face a number of political and economic challenges, though increasing civil stability has made it easier for mobile and fixed-line operators to rebuild telecom services and infrastructure damaged during the last few years. The government was minded to extend the licences held by the MNOs for an additional three years to compensate for the chaos and destruction caused between 2014 and 2017 when Islamic State held sway in many areas of the country. However, this plan was scuppered by opposition among some politicians, who asserted that the market needed more competition rather than extensions of existing licenses.

The three major MNOs are Zain Iraq, Asiacell, and Korek Telecom, which together control over 90% of the mobile market. The operators have struggled to develop LTE services, partly because of issues related to damaged infrastructure but also partly due to wrangles with the government and regulator concerning the conditions of their licences. With the availability of LTE services being very low, there is little change for 5G to be available in the short term. In the meantime, most services are still based on GSM and 3G, except in the Kurdish region where LTE is more widely available.

This BuddeComm report provides key telecoms industry information and statistics for Iraq. It provides information on existing telecoms infrastructure, the regulatory environment, fixed and mobile subscriber statistics, and information on the major operators.

Key developments:

Security concerns continuing to pose issues for safety of operators’ telecom infrastructure;
Offers are made from companies to build a satellite for Iraq, which will be used for telecom services;
Earthlink expands the reach of its FttP network;
Prepaid segment instrumental in encouraging mobile take-up by the mass market;
Mobile operators focused on lucrative enterprise and B2B market segments;
Report update includes telcos' operating and financial data to Q4 2021, updated Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, assessment of the global impact of the pandemic on the telecoms sector, recent market developments.

Companies mentioned in this report:

Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC), Newroz Telecom, Asiacell, Zain Iraq, Korek Telecom, Regional Telecom, Communication and Media Commission (CMC), ScopeSky Communications.

Key statistics
Regional Middle East Market Comparison

Market characteristics
Market Leaders
Market Challengers
Market Emergents
TMI versus GDP
Mobile and mobile broadband penetration
Fixed and mobile broadband penetration

Country overview
Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Economic considerations and responses
Subscribers
Infrastructure

Telecommunications market

Historical overview
Market overview

Regulatory environment

Historic overview

Wireless Local Loop licences

Recent developments
Regulatory authority
Mobile network developments

Temporary mobile licences awarded in 2003
Licence awards - 2007
License extensions - 2020
Fourth mobile licence

Mobile market

Market analysis
Mobile infrastructure

Towers
5G
LTE/4G
3G
Satellite mobile
Mobile broadband

Major mobile operators

Asiacell Communications (Ooredoo)
Zain Iraq (formerly MTC Atheer)
Korek Telecom
Operators in Kurdistan

Fixed-broadband market

Market analysis
Fibre-to-the-Premises (FttP) networks
Other fixed broadband services

WiMAX migrating to TD-LTE

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
Historical overview
International infrastructure

Submarine cable networks
Satellite networks

Fixed network operator

Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC)

Smart infrastructure

E-Commerce
M-payments, m-banking and e-banking

Appendix – historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Iraq – 2021 (e)
Table 2 – Iraq - GDP and inflation – 2012 – 2021
Table 3 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Table 4 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2014 – 2027
Table 5 – Change in the mobile market share of subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2020
Table 6 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (QAR billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 7 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (IQD billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 8 – Change in the number of Asiacell’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Table 9 – Development of Asiacell’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2021
Table 10 – Development of Zain Iraq’s financial data ($ billion) – 2012 – 2021
Table 11 – Development of Zain Iraq’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2021
Table 12 – Change in the number of Zain Iraq’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Table 13 – Zain Iraq’s mobile prepaid and postpaid subscribers (million) – 2012 – 2021
Table 14 – Change in the market share of Zain Iraq’s prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Table 15 – Change in Zain Iraq’s average mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2020
Table 16 – Change in the number of Korek Telecom’s mobile subscribers – 2013 – 2020
Table 17 – Internet users and penetration – 2012 – 2018
Table 18 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2017 – 2027
Table 19 – Growth in fixed and mobile internet traffic (EB / month) – 2017 – 2020
Table 20 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2012 – 2027
Table 21 – Historic - Iraq - fixed lines in service and teledensity - 1990 – 2011
Table 22 – Historic - Iraq - Internet user penetration and estimates – 2001 – 2011
Table 23 – Historic - Iraq - mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2002 – 2011
Table 24 – Historic - Zain Iraq mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2011
Table 25 – Historic - Zain Iraq financial data (US$ billion) – 2008 – 2011
Table 26 – Historic - Iraq - mobile operator market shares – 2004 – 2011
Table 27 – Historic - Asiacell subscribers – 2006 – 2011
Table 28 – Historic - Iraq - GDP and inflation – 1998 – 2011
Table 29 – Historic - Zain Iraq ARPU – 2008 – 2011
Table 30 – Historic - Asiacell financial data (QAR billion) – 2007 – 2011

List of Charts

Chart 1 – Map of Telecom Maturity Index global ranking among countries in the Middle East
Chart 2 – Middle East – Telecoms Maturity Index global ranking
Chart 3 – Middle East – Telecoms Maturity Index by country
Chart 4 – Middle East - Telecoms Maturity Index vs GDP per capita
Chart 5 – Middle East – Mobile subscriber versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 6 – Middle East – Fixed broadband penetration versus mobile broadband penetration
Chart 7 – Growth in the number of mobile subscribers and penetration – 2012 – 2027
Chart 8 – Growth in the number of active mobile broadband subscribers and penetration – 2014 – 2027
Chart 9 – Change in the mobile market share of subscribers by operator – 2012 – 2020
Chart 10 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data – 2012 – 2021
Chart 11 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (IQD) – 2012 – 2021
Chart 12 – Change in the number of Asiacell’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 13 – Development of Asiacell’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2021
Chart 14 – Development of Zain Iraq’s financial data – 2012 – 2021
Chart 15 – Development of Zain Iraq’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2021
Chart 16 – Change in the number of Zain Iraq’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 17 – Zain Iraq’s mobile prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 18 – Change in the market share of Zain Iraq’s prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2021
Chart 19 – Change in Zain Iraq’s average mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2020
Chart 20 – Internet users and penetration – 2012 – 2018
Chart 21 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2017 – 2027
Chart 22 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2012 – 2027

List of Exhibits

Exhibit 1 – Generalised Market Characteristics by Market Segment
Exhibit 2 – Middle East – Market leaders and market developments
Exhibit 3 – Middle East –Market challengers and market developments
Exhibit 4 – Middle East –Market emergents and market developments
Exhibit 5 – Background information - Orascom Telecom Iraq Corporation/Iraqna

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Iraq Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Purchase this Report

LTE launches in Iraq marred by legal issues

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Middle East Market Comparison

Country overview

Covid-19 and its impact on the telecom sector

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-broadband market

Telecommunications infrastructure

Fixed network operator

Smart infrastructure

Appendix – historic data

Glossary of abbreviations

Related reports

Purchase this Report

Share this Report

TMT Intelligence

A platform to scale your intelligence tasks

Research Methodology

Hot Topics

News & Views