Iraqi Telecom Chief Seeks to Build From Scratch

Cell Phone Network Is Top Priority

Siyamend Z. Othman is trying to establish telecommunications in Iraq. (By Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)

U.S. telecom regulation is not so different from Iraq's except for one fundamental thing.

"As I was telling the FCC, if you refuse somebody a license, at least they don't come and shoot at you," Siyamend Z. Othman, Iraq's top telecommunications regulator, said in an interview in Washington this week. "It comes with the job."

The European-educated Iraqi brings a wry sense of humor to the task of building a phone system after years of insurgency, conflict and neglect.

The Iraqi telecom system was one of the most rudimentary in the Middle East under Saddam Hussein, with roughly 1 million land lines for a population of about 26 million and no mobile-phone networks.

Today, the Iraqis are trying to leapfrog generations of technology by going straight to an advanced wireless phone system under what might seem the harshest possible conditions.

Already, by Othman's estimate, there are between 4 million and 4.5 million mobile-phone subscribers, up from zero when the U.S.-led invasion began nearly three years ago. According to U.S. estimates, the number of land lines, which fell by several hundred thousand because of U.S. bombing, now slightly exceeds the prewar level.

Setting up cell towers is cheaper and easier than rolling phone lines to every home in Iraq, which has three main mobile providers -- all regional, rather than Western, companies -- working overtime.

One saving grace that the new telecom infrastructure has largely been spared insurgent attacks for a simple reason: The terrorists want phone service, too.

"Everybody needs a mobile phone, whether you are a terrorist, whether you are a government official, or whether you are a member of the public," Othman said in an interview at the Watergate Hotel. "In fact, we know of a number of anecdotes where mobile operators were threatened by terrorists for not extending their network to their [the terrorists'] villages."

Othman was in Washington this week for talks with officials from the Federal Communications Commission and the State and Commerce departments. He also met with U.S. executives -- chiefly makers of communications equipment, such as Motorola Corp. -- eager to do business in what Othman called "one of the most lucrative markets" in the Middle East.

Unlike many foreign visitors, the chief executive of the Iraq National Communications and Media Commission is not looking for money.

His agency expects to raise millions for the Iraqi treasury when it awards three long-term mobile-phone licenses later this year, making money the least of his worries.