Reply #67: It says "European-based technology", not European-based companies [View All]

[PacerLJ35]

GSM is one of the standard cell phone formats in Europe. Iraq generally abides by European standards with regards to its technology and communications infrastructure, as does most of the middle east.

You found an article that talked about proposed stuff, but please find something that states there's a US-based cell phone company operating in Iraq, because I'm not aware of any. In fact, I had an Iraqna phone and was well aware of the source of the company.

I fully believe the Iraqis found their own sourcing for the cell phone system, since it was very fractious and it didn't work very well. Most Iraqis keep two cell phones...an Iraqna phone when they are in south and central Iraq, and an Asia Cell when they go up north.

Finally, that article is from 2003. It's 2010 now, and in my very recent experience with the Iraqi cell phone system I didn't notice a single US- or EU-based company, other than perhaps the actual phones themselves.

While some US companies may have benefitted from contracts in Iraq, in my experience most of the contractors I saw rebuilding Iraq were local or other middle-eastern in origin. Lots of companies from Turkey, the UAE, Saudi, etc.

Most of the US or EU companies I saw working over there were involved with contracts relating to US facilities.