Iran to Make New Attempt to Issue 3rd Mobile Phone License

­Iran's newly appointed minister of Communications and Information Technology has announced that the country will make yet another attempt to award its 3rd mobile operator license. Reza Taqipour told the Tehran Times that, "we predict foreign investors are interested in the Third Operator project."

Taqipour was speaking at the minister's introduction ceremony in Tehran on Sunday in which he expressed his plans for his period as minister.

The tender for the license, which also included a two-year monopoly on 3G services was initially contested with an Etisalat backed consortium winning. This was later cancelled and allegedly awarded to Zain who denied submitting a formal tender. A third claimed award to Russia's Megafon was also then denied to have occurred.

That Megafon cited "factors related to conducting business in Iran" as part of its reason for not wanting the license ties in with a recent decision by Indonesia's state-owned telco, PT Telekomunikasi, which recently decided not to pursue an option to buy a stake in Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) after deciding that the risks outweighed the potential rewards.

Despite the Minister's confidence that the tender can be reissued, it is now not clear if there are any other companies interested in picking up the license.

On the web: Tehran Times

Posted to the site on 7th September 2009