Kalimat Telecom, winner of Iraq’s first national licence to provide a full-scale fixed wireless network, today awarded a $275 million infrastructure contract to Huawei Technologies.

The Kalimat-Huawei memorandum of understanding, signed this morning in the presence of Kalimat’s president and CEO, Wilson Varghese and Li Huang, vice president Huawei Tech. Investment Corp, is one of several Kalimat agreements formalised this week.

A $1 billion consortium of specialist vendors assembled by Kuwait-based Trade Links Middle East, Kalimat Telecom aims to enter every home, business, governmental and non-governmental institution in Iraq and deliver five million CDMA lines of service by 2011.

The consortium won the 10-year wireless licence from Iraq’s Communications and Media Commission in September 2006.

Huawei, a global leader in telecom network solutions, will execute the project in four phases beginning in September 2007. The Chinese technology vendor will supply and provide deployment services for CDMA base stations and help create a top-of-the-line all-IP network infrastructure.

Wilson Varghese, president and CEO of Kalimat Telecom, said Huawei’s technology will enable significantly faster and more cost-effective services.

“This is the first time Iraq is witnessing a full-scale deployment of fixed wireless technology across the country, not just in urban clusters but in remote areas as well,” Varghese said. Kalimat Telecom will be the first to serve not only the Iraqi household but also its up and coming small/medium enterprise market, he added.

In addition to providing voice telephony services for local, national and international calling, access to the Internet (including broadband access), Kalimat will also deploy WiMAX technology – which provides wireless data over long distances – in Iraq.

In January 2006, Iraq was home to more than 1.2 million fixed lines – a penetration rate just over four per cent – with the bulk of fixed line subscribers based in the capital. The cellular market is much stronger in comparison, with 8.7 million subscribers, 30 per cent penetration rate.

Kalimat, Varghese said, will distinguish itself in its market-competitive, transparent and easily understood pricing and service terms.

Kalimat has also awarded the first Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) contract to Trade Links Communications, bringing in additional revenue above $5 million.

Other Kalimat Telecom consortium partners include Voex, which will serve as the operator of the network to be established in Iraq, and Artel, a telecommunications consulting firm based in the United States. –TradeArabia News Service