The Iraqi telco market made a recovery starting in 2016, and is forecast to reach 34 million subscribers by 2017, exceeding its 2014 pre-Daesh level, according to GlobalData, a data and analytics company. The Iraq market was severely impacted by the internal conflict with Daesh.

The fall of Mosul and the capture of vast swathes of Iraqi territory led to a massive drop in mobile subscribers, from 33 million in 2014 to 29 million in 2015. Mak Rahnama, technology analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Since the recapture of Mosul in August 2017 and the defeat of Daesh in numerous other areas of west and northern Iraq, telcos have proved very quick and resourceful.”

The regional telcos Zain and Asiacell were physically unable to provide mobile coverage to a significant portion of the Iraqi population that was under the control of Daesh. But in recent months they have made extensive progress in terms of reconnecting these areas.

Rahnama concludes: “Nonetheless, there are still serious and challenging obstacles facing mobile operators in terms of driving the adoption of mobile services, and there has also been significant destruction of telecommunication infrastructure that will take time, effort and resources to rebuild.”

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