The US Agency for International Development (USAID) is working with the Bechtel Corporation to make emergency repairs to Iraq's telecommunications infrastructure, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Networks and Information Integration Linton Wells.
Wells said Bechtel and USAID are repairing inter-city telephone connections and making emergency repairs in Baghdad that will allow utilities, hospitals, government offices, schools and other public services to communicate.
Wells also announced that coalition authorities are accepting bids from private corporations to repair or rebuild telecommunications systems to be used by the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) as well as the Iraqi people.
"[T]he objective is to return the Iraqi telecommunications system to its prewar capability to enable government operations, but also, and very importantly, to introduce advanced technologies," said Wells. "There were a number of areas in which the Iraqi telecommunications system before the war was significantly disadvantaged, and we don't just want to rebuild that."
Wells said that Baghdad, through which inter-city communications are routed, still has "minimal telecommunications." He also said security of the telephone lines was an important issue, since saboteurs have made cuts in telephone lines.
Wells said the CPA was also seeking the development of a cellular phone system. He said that despite the fact that there are 320 cell phone towers in the country, only the far north of Iraq has an operating system.
The defense official praised the 101st Airborne Division near Mosul, which he said was working with Iraqis to reconstruct switches, set up Internet cafes, and install fiber optic capability to a nearby university. — (menareport.com)
© 2003 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
