Iraq Telecoms Market Report

Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Statistics and Analyses

Publication Date: April 2025

Report Pages: 122

Analyst: Henry Lancaster

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Summary
Table Of Contents

Iraq’s main MNOs share tower infrastructure to reduce operating costs

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 intended 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 wrangled with the government and regulator concerning the conditions of their licences. Following disputes over tax and other issues, Korek Telecom in late 2023 temporarily had its network cut off from domestic and international carriers.

The operators have also struggled to develop LTE services, partly because of issues related to damaged infrastructure. With the availability of LTE services being very low outside of the main urban centres, there is little chance for 5G to be available in the short term. Nevertheless, in October 2023 the regulator announced that it would grant a three-year national 5G licence to a new operating company to be created by a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications. Local investment funds can subscribe to the new operating company, while up to 10% of the company’s shares may be reserved for citizens.

Key developments:

Zain and Ooredoo combine their mobile towers in Iraq under a new towerco.
Telecom regulator lifts block on Korek Telecom’s access to other carriers’ networks over unpaid bills after Korek agrees to pay $800 million tax bill.
Progress is made with the Silk Route Transit terrestrial fibre project.
Government meets with SpaceX with a view to launching Starlink satellite internet services in Iraq.
Government removes 20% sales tax on mobile top-up cards.
New national data centre is opened.
Report update includes telcos' operating and financial data to Q3 2023, updated Telecom Maturity Index charts and analyses, 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
Telecommunications market

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
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
Satellite broadband

Telecommunications infrastructure

Overview of the national telecom network
Historical overview
International infrastructure

Submarine cable networks
Silk Route Transit
Satellite networks

Fixed network operator

Iraqi Telephone and Postal Company (ITPC)

Smart infrastructure

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

Data centres
Appendix – historic data
Glossary of abbreviations
Related reports

List of Tables

Table 1 – Top Level Country Statistics and Telco Authorities - Iraq – 2023 (e)
Table 2 – Iraq - GDP and inflation – 2012 – 2023
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 – 2022
Table 6 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (QAR billion) – 2012 – 2023
Table 7 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (IQD billion) – 2012 – 2023
Table 8 – Change in the number of Asiacell’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2023
Table 9 – Development of Asiacell’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2023
Table 10 – Development of Zain Iraq’s financial data ($ million) – 2012 – 2023
Table 11 – Development of Zain Iraq’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2023
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 – 2023
Table 14 – Change in the market share of Zain Iraq’s prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2023
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 – 2022
Table 17 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2017 – 2027
Table 18 – Growth in fixed and mobile internet traffic (EB / month) – 2017 – 2020
Table 19 – Change in the number of fixed lines in service and teledensity - 2012 – 2027
Table 20 – Historic - Iraq - Internet user penetration and estimates – 2001 – 2011
Table 21 – Historic - Iraq - fixed lines in service and teledensity - 1990 – 2011
Table 22 – Historic - Iraq - mobile subscribers and penetration rate – 2002 – 2011
Table 23 – Historic - Zain Iraq mobile subscribers – 2006 – 2011
Table 24 – Historic - Zain Iraq financial data (US$ billion) – 2008 – 2011
Table 25 – Historic - Iraq - mobile operator market shares – 2004 – 2011
Table 26 – Historic - Asiacell subscribers – 2006 – 2011
Table 27 – Historic - Iraq - GDP and inflation – 1998 – 2011
Table 28 – Historic - Zain Iraq ARPU – 2008 – 2011
Table 29 – 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 – 20222
Chart 10 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data – 2012 – 2023
Chart 11 – Development of Asiacell’s financial data (IQD) – 2012 – 2023
Chart 12 – Change in the number of Asiacell’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2023
Chart 13 – Development of Asiacell’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2023
Chart 14 – Development of Zain Iraq’s financial data – 2012 – 2023
Chart 15 – Development of Zain Iraq’s mobile ARPU – 2012 – 2023
Chart 16 – Change in the number of Zain Iraq’s mobile subscribers – 2012 – 2023
Chart 17 – Zain Iraq’s mobile prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2023
Chart 18 – Change in the market share of Zain Iraq’s prepaid and postpaid subscribers – 2012 – 2023
Chart 19 – Change in Zain Iraq’s average mobile data traffic – 2012 – 2020
Chart 20 – Growth in the number of fixed broadband subscribers and penetration – 2017 – 2027
Chart 21 – 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

Iraq’s main MNOs share tower infrastructure to reduce operating costs

Key developments:

Companies mentioned in this report:

Key statistics

Regional Middle East Market Comparison

Country overview

Telecommunications market

Regulatory environment

Mobile market

Fixed-broadband market

Telecommunications infrastructure

Fixed network operator

Smart infrastructure

Data centres

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