Minister of Communications, Hiyam Al-Yasiri, confirmed on Thursday that the National Mobile Company project will provide thousands of job opportunities for young people. She noted that the ministry has asked Vodafone International to train and qualify Iraqi cadres to manage 5G services.
Al-Yasiri said, "We have worked to establish a national mobile company, an Iraqi company with Iraqi funds and Iraqi hands. This has not yet happened, as a contract has been signed with Vodafone International to transfer expertise to Iraqis."
She explained that "Vodafone is an operator, meaning it receives fixed, fixed wages and does not have a stake in the license. Rather, its responsibility lies in transferring expertise to Iraqis."
She continued, "We have asked them to train and employ thousands of Iraqis for periods ranging from five to seven years, up to a maximum of ten years. If Iraqis become capable, qualified, and prepared as experts in 5G, we will no longer need this company, and the Iraqi company will continue to operate on its own as a 5G operator."
She added, "Although this project provides job opportunities for thousands of young people, unfortunately it has not yet seen the light of day, and the license contract has not been signed due to a court order temporarily suspending the license pending investigation into some allegations."
Al-Yasiri explained, "All countries in the world have recognized the importance of telecommunications in maximizing state resources and employing its youth. Therefore, most countries have introduced government-run operators. However, since 2010, Iraq has been demanding and obtaining approvals to introduce a government-run operator with Iraqi hands. However, the experiment was halted before its inception, and today the same situation is being repeated."
Communications: We asked Vodafone to train thousands of Iraqis and qualify them to manage 5G.
