After delays of over a year, Iran has reportedly awarded a third national mobile network license. According to Reuters, the state-owned Tamin Telecom with its consortium won the bid for license and is hopeful its SIM cards “will reach the market in the course of the current year.”
The reports say the license is for GSM services and also includes a two-year exclusive deal for 3G services.
Tamin along with UAE-based Etisalat originally won a bid in January 2009 to operate the country’s third national mobile network. However, at that point they failed to meet obligations and runner-up Zain was awarded the deal. Unfortunately, that deal also later fell apart.
If everything goes well this time, Tamin will be competing with market leader MCI and MTN Irancell. In addition to national operators, Iran also has regional carriers such as MTCE, Taliya and TKC.
[Via: MobileBusinessBriefing]