:
Sat - Dec 25 -

THE DENTIST'S PHONE -

Zeyad the dentist who blogs at Healing Iraq has a wonderful but lengthy entry posted this weekend in which he covers the electricity situation as well as heat, water, gas and phones. He says he's back to using Internet cafes due to the (landline?) phone problems, so that he may not be posting as frequently.

*Nokia phones are the most popular in Baghdad, especially the 6600 model. Iraqis have already nicknamed it dabdoob (fat) because of its peculiar size and shape. The classic, cheap 1100 model is called taabuga (brick) because of its durability. Some people claim they have run over it in cars, dropped it from the roof, or attempted to smash it with a hammer and yet it still worked.*

But, local color aside, his mobile phone network seems to be plagued by mysterious systemic problems:

*As to the mobile phone network, specifically that of Baghdad, 'horrible' doesn't even start to describe it. The service is totally unavailable during the day and only seems to work after midnight. All you get is 'network busy', 'unknown error', 'weak signal', 'service unavailable' and things like that. Most of the time if you are trying to call someone your voice just echoes back to you. Of course there is an array of other problems with the service but Orascom should at least ensure that subscribers can effectively call each other.*

* * * * *

Did Zeyad mention Orascom??? Hmmm...

What do we know about Orascom?
It has been in the news lately.

This widely quoted recent article from Bloomberg
includes some information about Orascom:

*Arafat used a holding company to buy stock that included $285 million in Egyptian mobile-phone company Orascom Telecom Holding SAE and its affiliates ...

Arafat and his money managers invested abroad through Palestine Commercial Services Co, a holding company owned by the Palestinian Authority. Arafat controlled PCSC through his financial adviser, Mohamed Rachid...

The PCSC fund also owns a quarter of Algiers-based Orascom Telecom, valued at US$185 million, and 22 per cent of Tunis-based Orascom Telecom, worth US$75 million...

The Palestine Investment Fund owns 10 percent of the Egyptian company's stock outstanding...

Arafat adviser Rachid holds one of seven seats on Orascom Telecom's board of directors, according to Orascom's Web site...*

:: From Bloomberg.com ::

* * * * *

But wait, there's more.
A Dec 16th AP release reported:

*In Baghdad, unidentified gunmen on Thursday shot dead Qassim Mehawi, deputy head of the Communications Ministry as he was heading to work, police officials said...

U.S. and Iraqi security forces raided the Baghdad home of two Egyptian employees of an Iraqi mobile phone company belonging to Egypt's telecommunications giant Orascom, said Dina Abu Neda, a spokeswoman for Orascom Telecom.

Abu Neda said the U.S. and Iraqi forces also confiscated thousands of dollars from the men's home. "We don't know why they were detained, it came as a big surprise to us," Abu Neda said...*

* * * * *

It certainly couldn't help your phone company, if the Deputy Communications Minister gets whacked. But what's this about all that cash the Orascom guys had stashed in their refrigerator?

I suspect it would take an adept Kremlinologist to parse out exactly where in the vast, labyrinthian Orascom companies, among all those incognito shells and busy body-bombers, the crucial flaw is located which doesn't quite connect the network together.

This is surely a company that has a lot weighing on its mind right now.

:: Healing Iraq ::
-- Sat, Dec 25 entry - Winter Crises --

...