Her Excellency Jowan Masum
Iraqi Minister of Communications
Iraq Development Program
Opening Ceremony
Tuesday 28 June 2005

Good morning,
Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to join you at this conference on the Iraq Development Program and I am pleased to see so many of you present.

We all know what Iraq went through during the past 35 years and we all know its present situation. I am not here to discuss the previous hardship; I am here to bring you a picture of the situation in Iraq within the telecommunications sector.

Iraq benefits from having an extensive fibre network connecting its main cities as well as neighbouring countries. These were damaged during the war, but have since been repaired, expanded and improved to provide contingency.

Inside of each city there exists an extensive fibre network and capper cable or outside plant. These, as you all know, require maintenance. The Ministry is working on maintaining and expanding the network in other areas to bring about greater connectivity. Around 40-80 per cent of these infrastructure expansions are related to getting connectivity under way.

When talking about connectivity, I would like to highlight that the teledensity in Iraq is around three per cent – it is one of the lowest in the region. The Ministry has begun working on improving the teledensity by purchasing more switches and making it available to the general public. The Ministry is also working on expanding Internet services and making them more widely available.

By such statements, it means that network expansion and upgradeability is a must – the Ministry has put forward two major projects; one related to upgrading equipment by bandwidth expansion between Baghdad and the provinces. The second is related to increasing the bandwidth within Baghdad.

Although these projects are carried out by the ministry, it is not enough to improve the communication in Iraq. It is realised that private investment is essential for this sector. Iraq has carried out a major leap by establishing the National Communication & Media Commission. This is independent from the ministry, but works in association with it. The presence of the commission signals to the investor that the telecommunications sector is not wholly state owned and is not monopolised.

The aim of the ministry in all of its work is to make Iraq a centre of communication, for the state owned company for communications, known as the Iraqi Telecommunications & Posts Company needs to work with the private sector for the advancement of their field in Iraq.

With that I would like to thank you for your patience and time. God bless.