MTC finally launches GSM in Baghdad

IT'S TAKEN ROUGHLY 15 months to happen but Kuwaiti-based MTC has finally launched its official GSM network in Baghdad, to coincide with the recent Telecom Arabia show.

How has MTC - which partners with Vodafone - managed this feat in war-torn Iraq? The company claims its 1,800 kilometres of network have been rolled out with the help of a 100 per cent Iraqi workforce. And to show just how easy it was, MTC baked a special cake to commemorate the occasion.

Part of the deal surrounding the granting of its licence was to roll out the GSM network in the south of Iraq before being allowed to cover the capital. As such, MTC Atheer now has over 360, 000 subscribers in Iraq.

In fact, MTC is fast becoming a Middle Eastern mobile network leader with operations in Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait and the Lebanon.

MTC has come a long way from the days when Congressman Darrel Issa, fought to have a cdmaOne network hoisted on Iraq. µ

See Storm breaks over Iraq's cellular network

Here's that cake. µ