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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq’s national telecommunications regulator on Tuesday officially canceled its settlement agreement with Erbil-based Korek Telecom, ordering an immediate suspension of the company’s operations and announcing legal and technical measures targeting its assets, seemingly to recover part of an estimated 1.5$ billion in unpaid debts.
The Communications and Media Commission (CMC), which operates in coordination with Iraq’s legislature, said it had “decided to cancel the settlement agreement concluded with Korek Telecom, and to proceed with taking the legal, regulatory, and technical measures stipulated in the contract and in force laws, including suspending all of the company’s operations.”
It added that it will “take all necessary legal, regulatory, and technical procedures to implement the decision” and “ensure the protection of state rights, preservation of public funds, recovery of debts, and enforcement of the obligations owed by the company in accordance with applicable laws and regulations.”
The regulator accused Korek of “breaching its contractual obligations” despite “being granted sufficient extensions and opportunities to regularize its legal status and fulfill its financial and contractual obligations.”
It further instructed that “the implications of the decision” for subscribers would be handled “within the approved regulatory frameworks,” while holding Korek Telecom “fully responsible for the legal and financial consequences of its breach.”
The CMC finally urged “all official and unofficial entities and all citizens to take the decision into account and avoid entering into any new dealings or contracts with the company,” saying Korek “bears full legal and financial responsibility for its failure to implement the settlement agreement and any resulting consequences.”
Korek subscribers across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region have been unable to make or receive calls, or send and receive messages from both domestic and international carriers for several years. The disruption began with a November 2023 decision by the CMC to block Korek’s services over unpaid financial obligations.
A month earlier, the Iraqi telecommunications authority had warned Korek that its operating license had expired and that it had failed to pay “large sums” owed to the state, meaning the license would not be renewed.
In mid-February 2025, the CMC cut off the company’s internet services, citing non-compliance with debt repayments and continued violations. A month before, Zahra al-Bajari, head of parliament’s transport and communications committee at the time, said Korek Telecom owes Iraq’s CMC a total of two trillion dinars (around $1.5 billion) in licensing fees and outstanding debts.
Meanwhile, Korek CEO Sirwan Barzani previously told Rudaw that the measures were politically motivated and “illegal,” while expressing willingness to resolve the issues in accordance with the law.
The latest action against Korek coincides with efforts by Iraqi Communications Minister Mustafa Sanad to establish a new mobile network provider in Iraq, with a plan set to be presented to parliament within three months.
Sanad told the state-run Iraqi News Agency (INA) that “the fourth license would be Iraqi,” with UK-based telecom giant Vodafone acting as “an operator rather than an owner” in it.
He further added that “the idea is to create a state-owned national carrier to compete with companies such as AsiaCell, Zain, and Korek, [which are active in Iraq and] some of which are linked to Arab countries,” arguing that Iraq lacks full sovereignty over its telecommunications sector.