Baghdad Calling! Mobile Phones Spring to Life
After all the political battles over who was going to supply mobile phone coverage to Iraq, some were surprised today to suddenly discover that their mobile phones were working. Officially, no licenses have been granted, but apparently the service is already running. The article is a little confusing, and doesn’t seem to keep all the details straight. From the article, it sounds as though the system is actually from MTC-Vodafone, as some users received a text message from the company (I think – this part is a bit confusing in the article). However, a spokesperson from MTC-Vodafone (reached in Baghdad via his mobile phone…) said that he had no idea that they were offering service. Update: I’m reminded that we actually talked about this last month, explaining how MTC-Vodafone got approval to build their network. Update 2: Meanwhile, Batelco claims that they are the first to offer GSM service in Baghdad.
