ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq's Communications and Media Commission (CMC) said Monday that regulatory and legal measures against Erbil-based Korek Telecom remain in effect despite a Baghdad court ruling that reinstated a 2025 financial settlement between the company and the regulator.
Korek said earlier Monday that the Al-Rusafa Court of First Instance had annulled the CMC's decision to cancel the settlement agreement signed between the two sides in September 2025 and had ruled that the agreement remained in force.
Korek said they hoped CMC would “turn the page to work as one team” following the ruling.
The CMC on Monday said the ruling had been subject to “inaccurate interpretations,” stressing that it did not cancel other regulatory and legal measures taken against Korek, including the closure of its headquarters and other offices.
“The court ruling did not contain any text or reference to canceling other regulatory and legal measures taken against the company, including the closure of its headquarters,” the CMC said.
The regulator said those measures were linked to the expiry of Korek's mobile-service license in August 2022 and would remain in effect unless a court explicitly ordered their cancellation. It also said Korek remains required to pay its outstanding debts to the state, along with any additional financial obligations that have accrued.
The court ruling concerns the financial settlement signed by the CMC and Korek on September 23, 2025. The regulator canceled that agreement on June 2, 2026, accusing Korek of failing to meet its contractual obligations despite being given extensions and opportunities to comply. It subsequently ordered the suspension of the company's operations and began taking measures against its assets.
The dispute has affected Korek's services for several years. In November 2023, the CMC blocked the company's communications with other Iraqi mobile operators over unpaid financial obligations. The regulator also cut Korek's internet services outside the Kurdistan Region in February 2025.
The CMC later moved to close Korek offices and warned subscribers to secure accounts linked to their Korek numbers before further shutdown measures.
Korek has disputed the regulator's actions, describing them as arbitrary and illegal and arguing that the settlement was reached following a committee established by the prime minister's office.
CMC warned Korek against reopening its offices previously closed in Iraqi provinces without its “explicit approval.”
In late August, a Baghdad court overturned an injunction that had temporarily blocked the CMC from suspending Korek’s operations, upholding the regulator’s decision to proceed with measures against the company.
CMC chief Baligh Abu Kalal previously told Rudaw that Korek was “non-compliant with the Commission’s decisions” and that “the two sides have reached a dead end.”
He said the dispute was “purely technical,” adding that Korek owed the Commission more than two trillion dinars ($1.5 billion) and had external debts exceeding $1 billion.
