Iraqi mobile operators Zain Iraq, Asiacell and Korek face fines after missing a 31 August deadline to begin listing their shares on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX).
Local regulator Communications and Media Commission (CMC) held a meeting yesterday to…
Iraqi mobile operators Zain Iraq, Asiacell and Korek face fines after missing a 31 August deadline to begin listing their shares on the Iraq Stock Exchange (ISX).
Local regulator Communications and Media Commission (CMC) held a meeting yesterday to decide whether to take action over the missed deadline, which was set in 2007 when they received their operating licences, reported Reuters.
Asiacell, an affiliate of Qatar Telecom, is the only group to have made some headway to become a shareholding company, and therefore could receive some leniency from CMC, added the report citing the regulator’s legal adviser Tareq al-Aboud.
CMC did not respond to requests for comment, but Ahmed Alomary, an official at the regulator, has previously been quoted saying he did not expect any of the three to meet the deadline, and that this would lead to penalties.
Zain Iraq CEO Emad Makiya said earlier this year that his company was working on the “long” process of listing, a feat he claimed it was “going to fulfil” without promising it would be ready by the deadline.
Low liquidity on the ISX has reportedly been a concern for Asiacell, which has been quoted expressing concern that this could stop it raising a sufficient amount of cash in an IPO. Reports suggest the group also doubts the capacity of the ISX, which began trading in June 2004, to absorb IPOs of one or more telcos at the level required by the licence.
Neither company was available for comment before the press deadline.
