ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - The “grace period” for the Erbil-based Korek Telecom will be extended by one month before the company is shut down, the federal Communications and Media Commission (CMC) said on Tuesday, citing a request from the Iraqi parliament's communications committee to give users more time to secure their digital accounts.
The CMC pushed the deadline to November 1 “following a formal letter from the communication committee [in parliament] and to safeguard user interests,” the statement read, noting that the Commission had initially set the end of September as the deadline “before proceeding with the shutdown of the company's switchboards.”
The statement also urged Korek subscribers “to utilize the extra time” by adding a number from one of the two “licensed mobile operators,” Asiacell and Zain Iraq, to platforms that support multiple phone numbers, as an alternative way to “receive verification codes, authentication prompts, and account recovery access.”
In late August, the Iraqi communications regulator asked Korek users to take “precautionary measures” as it pledged legal action against the Erbil-based company, citing its failure to settle outstanding debts in license fees and other financial commitments that it estimated at around $1.5 billion.
“For apps and platforms that allow only one phone number, the regulator advises updating the registered number used for verification, while retaining the Korek number whenever possible,” the CMC said in its Tuesday statement, relaying instructions it had issued in August and urging subscribers to add email addresses and other authentication methods as recovery options for their digital accounts.
The regulator's issuance of instructions for Korek subscribers in August coincided with a ruling from a Baghdad court that 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.
In September, Korek issued a statement celebrating a court decision that deemed a 2025 settlement agreement valid. However, the CMC was quick to say the ruling had been subject to “inaccurate interpretations,” adding that it did not cancel other regulatory and legal measures taken against Korek, including the closure of its headquarters and other offices.
Brokered by the office of the Iraqi prime minister, the 2025 financial settlement allowed Korek to repay its outstanding debts in installments. However, the CMC terminated the deal in early June, accusing Korek of failing to meet its contractual obligations despite being given extensions and opportunities to comply.
Disruptions to Korek's services began in late 2023, when the commission launched enforcement actions over unpaid financial obligations, cutting the company's internet services outside the Kurdistan Region and blocking calls between Korek and competing networks across Iraq.
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