ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Erbil-based Korek Telecom will continue operating in the Kurdistan Region despite moves by federal authorities to restrict the telecommunications company, a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) minister said on Friday.
“We do not want things to reach that stage; however, the CMC [Communications and Media Commission] cannot shut down Korek inside the Kurdistan Region,” Ano Abdoka, the KRG’s minister of transport and communications, told Rudaw’s Zhyar Hakim.
Abdoka said the dispute was a legal matter involving a Kurdistan-based company operating under KRG authority.
“No party can shut down a Kurdistan-based enterprise without consulting with the KRG. We operate under a federal system—not a centralized or dictatorial system.”
His remarks came after the CMC on Sunday gave Korek subscribers until the end of September to secure their digital accounts before the regulator begins shutting down the telecom operator’s facilities in Baghdad and other provinces.
The CMC urged customers who use Korek numbers for verification codes, authentication or account recovery to take “precautionary measures,” warning that services linked to the company’s exchanges would be disrupted once the shutdown begins.
The regulator said it would begin to “shut down Korek Telecom’s switches and exchanges successively” in Baghdad and other provinces after the deadline expires, describing the measure as part of ongoing regulatory enforcement against the company.
Abdoka rejected unilateral federal action and said he met with an Iraqi parliamentary delegation on Thursday, alongside representatives of telecommunications companies in the Kurdistan Region, in an effort to reach a legislative solution.
“Korek Telecom is the largest telecom company across the Kurdistan Region and the first telecom operator across Iraq, as well as one of the largest companies nationwide,” Abdoka said, stressing that “millions of citizens” rely on the provider for banking services, university records, social media accounts and court cases.
Abdoka said the financial dispute dated back to the company's initial acquisition of its license, when 3.2 million assigned phone numbers were never transferred to the operator.
“The Korek dispute is a legal matter, not merely an issue of taxes,” Abdoka noted, urging federal authorities to resolve the case professionally rather than through media ultimatums.
Abdoka said Korek remained the dominant carrier in the Kurdistan Region and that regional authorities would protect the interests of its customers, stressing that “Korek will continue its operations in Kurdistan.”
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