The Internet Revolution in Iraqi Kurdistan: New Paradigm for Telecommunication Sector
Two years ago an ISP or a data company had always had a disadvantage in comparison to a 2G mobile company, as the latter always had an upper hand because the voice application was more popular.
Two years ago an ISP or a data company had always had a disadvantage in comparison to a 2G mobile company, as the latter always had an upper hand because the voice application was more popular.
This is now changing: due to new applications like WhatsApp and Viber, the Internet is now challenging most of the well-established market players.
The voice companies, the 3 major telecom operators in Iraqi Kurdistan, are now starting to feel the competition on their bottom lines as Skype and Viber can effectively stem the revenues from voice by 50%.
Mr. Kawa A. Junad, CEO of the largest and leading Internet provider Newroz Telecom, believes that “by the end of 2014 there will be no voice, so any company that has a 2G license will either have to upgrade to 3G or 4G or they will just die.”
The new paradigm in Iraqi Kurdistan telecommunication sector is a fundamental shift from voice to the Internet.
The shift towards the Internet will happen even faster in Iraqi Kurdistan because of the scheduled release of 4G LTE services in the region on March 21, 2013 by Newroz Telecom.
“What Newroz is trying to do is different. It is not only the name of 4G, but the service we are trying to provide has never been provided in this whole region, not even in Turkey, the Gulf or neighboring countries. We could compare our future 4G service to the service available in the United States,” concludes Junad.