“The ministry will work to develop the country’s telecommunications infrastructure,” she said. She said her first priority was to link the country’s 18 provinces together.
It is still not possible to call several provinces from Baghdad and telephone services between the Kurdish north and the rest of the country have yet to resume.
Mobile phones have mushroomed in Iraq since the fall of the former leader Saddam Hussein in 2003, who had banned their use.
Iraqis now mainly rely on their mobile phones for both local and international contacts.
Maasoum said her second priority was to make it easy for Iraqis to make international calls.
“This is a vital project for which the ministry has earmarked $11 million,” she said. Private Internet use, which was also banned under Saddam Hussein, has surged in the past three years.(Source)Hussein Hameed, Azzaman
