ERBIL, Kurdistan Region — Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission has ordered several Kurdish communication companies to stop their landline services, with one claiming that the work of civil services in the Kurdistan Region will be negatively impacted.
“The decision to stop the line [for communications] is based on a decision from Baghdad,” Fatih Ismail Ahmed, the spokesperson for Newroz Telecom, one of the companies in the Kurdistan Region, told Rudaw in a video interview on Thursday.
Calls made by Rudaw English on Thursday to known landline numbers from Kurdish cell phone companies did not connect.
Fanoos Telecom, a telecommunications company in the Kurdistan Region, received a formal letter from Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission on January 15. Rudaw learned of the letter on February 2 (Friday).
The Iraqi commission ordered that all companies which are licensed by them should cut communications with companies that are not licensed, such as Fast Link, Newroz, Link Tech, Wego/7net-layer, Nawant, Kurdtel, Tishknet, Cellnet, and others.
Ahmed added that three companies, Zain, Korek, and Asiacell, abided by the decision without discussing it with them.
Ahmed lamented that Korek and Asiacell are two Kurdish companies, yet they did not consult with them or with the KRG’s Ministry of Transport and Communications.
“The work of the civil services, such as hospitals, emergency line for kids, police and security numbers, and the fire departments has been damaged,” Ahmed claimed.
He added that the governmental institutions use landlines for communicating with airports, the outside world and banking institutions, claiming the companies receive no profit from this and it is a provided service.
The spokesperson said Newroz has given many lines for free and that for the interests of the people — without profits, but instead taking losses.
“This [stopped] service was very cheap for communications,” he said, claiming that about 100,000 people have been hurt by this decision.
Newroz abides by all laws and instructions from the Ministry of Transport and Communications, according to Ahmed.
He is calling on the Kurdish ministry to step in because it is beyond companies’ power to roll back the ban.
Baghdad, ever since the KRG independence referendum, has imposed numerous punitive measures against the Kurdistan Region: Namely, international commercial flights have been halted, and a ban on KRG’s banking institutions was imposed then only lifted this week.
Updated at 1:30 p.m. on February 2 with the Iraqi commission’s statement
