| Celling Iraq |
13 October 2003
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Iraqi Cell Phones Won't Use US System
Those who claim that the US occupation of Iraq is based entirely on jamming US-made products down Iraqis' throats in exchange for oil received some inconvenient news last week. The Iraqi Communications Minister, Mr. Haidar al-Ebadi, announced that his country would use the GSM system most of its neighbors use for mobile phones rather than the CDMA used in the US.
Naturally, American companies would have a huge advantage if the CDMA system were used. However, the winners of the licenses are not American, in no small part due to the choice of system. There are three winners, one for each region into which Iraq is divided for mobile phone purposes, and each of them is a consortium or Iraqi businessmen and Arab telecom companies; a Kuwaiti telecom company Wataniya and Kurds get the north, Orascom of Egypt won the Baghdad area, and Kuwait's MTC figures heavily in the south.
The Kuwaiti connections will probably irritate a few Iraqis who still think of the place as a rogue province, but they will be few in number. Besides, if that were the case, why would they care since it means Kuwaitis are really Iraqis, and therefore, the consortia are largely domestic firms?
What is significant is the absence of any large US or other western firms in these deals. If the removal of the Saddamite regime was truly about imperialism, it would seem that the occupation forces have blundered rather badly -- plunder figures highly in such a scenario.
It would seem that the Americans are going to spend billions in rebuilding Iraq, and so far, the president's oil industry buddies have struck out. So have the western telecoms. Time for a few folks to rethink their positions.
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