Iraq said Sunday, August 19, it will take delivery of a mobile telephone exchange, ordered from a Chinese company but blocked for more than two years by the UN sanctions committee, in early 2002.
Iraq has started construction work on 60 base stations for its first mobile telephone network after receiving a UN go-ahead in July for the $28-million contract, Takrit newspaper quoted telecoms ministry undersecretary, Jamil Ibrahim Al-Takriti, as saying.
In a first stage, 25,000 lines will be available covering a 50-kilometer (30-mile) radius. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan gave a green light last May for the development of the telecommunications network in the sanctions-hit state as a humanitarian measure.
In 1998, Iraq signed a $60-million deal with French firm Alcatel to upgrade the telephone network but the contract has yet to be approved by the United Nations sanctions committee. ― (AFP, Baghdad)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
