Iraqi Telecom Chief Seeks to Build From Scratch

Othman said that what he needs most are trained professionals as the government works to provide service to a population starved of communications under Hussein.

In a line that drew laughter from American executives this week, he ruefully said that "if you search the length and breadth of Iraq, you can't find one telecom lawyer."

Recruiting workers was even harder when his agency was inside the Green Zone, which houses top government officials and the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, Othman said, saying half his staff quit after a suicide bombing outside the compound.

Since moving out of the Green Zone last year, his new building has been shot at twice and his chief of security has been kidnapped.

The violence aside, Iraq's telecom industry bears striking similarities to the U.S. model, with fierce lobbying, government turf battles and entrenched players who resist competition in a business that can bring huge profits.

Othman said that one of his biggest challenges is maintaining the independence of his agency against political interference, particularly when it comes time to award the mobile-phone licenses this year.

"It's a big issue, and there is going to be interference -- I am under no illusions -- from the political establishment," he said. Asked if the politicians had ties to companies bidding for the licenses, he replied: "It's not for me to say. But why else would they interfere? You make your own deduction."

Othman said the interim Iraqi government that took over after the June 2004 handover of sovereignty adopted a "belligerent" stance toward his agency, refusing to hand over vital radio-spectrum data.

Provincial governments also have resisted central control. In one case, a small mobile-phone operator refused to acknowledge his agency's authority and, with local officials' support, now operates as a monopoly in parts of Northern Iraq, he said.

Othman said his approach has been to pursue gentle suasion, rather than outright confrontation, with telecom companies -- something he described as a necessity given the lack of state control in Iraq.

"In Iraq, we have serious enforcement problems. The state is weak," he said.

In one case -- reminiscent of the U.S. telephone industry in the early 20th century -- Iraqi mobile networks refused to connect to each other. As a result, people could call each other only if they had service from the same company.

Othman brought the companies in and persuaded them to connect, at least in theory, though calls do not always go through in practice.

"Let's say we made them an offer they couldn't refuse," he said, without elaborating.