Thursday, May 17, 2012
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The Iranian government has ordered the country's second-largest telcoms operator MTN Irancell to extend its network to cover Abu Musa and other disputed islands in the Persian Gulf, after Iranian visitors to Abu Musa received cellphone messages welcoming them to the United Arab Emirates.
Iran and the U.A.E. both claim sovereignty over Abu Musa and two other Iranian-occupied islands near the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which one fifth of the world's crude oil supply passes. Tensions over the issue have risen after a visit last month by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Abu Musa, the first by an Iranian president, sparked a storm of protest from both the U.A.E. and its Gulf Arab allies.
Now reports that Irancell's coverage doesn't extend to Abu Musa have caused anger within Iran, with parliament speaker Ali Larijani calling for a "serious and public" investigation into the matter.
Irancell's public relations manager Arash Karimbeigi was quoted in Iranian newspapers as saying that the company has an agreement with the U.A.E.'s Emirates Telecommunications Corp (ETISALAT.AD) to provide coverage in some areas of the Persian Gulf that are out of Irancell's range, resulting in Iranian visitors to Abu Musa receiving SMS messages from the Etisalat network welcoming them to the U.A.E.
"It was a technical problem ... the Iranian Foreign Ministry has given directives to Irancell to enhance the coverage over Iranian territories ... and not to fall in a similar mistake in the future," Alireza Enayati, director of the Persian Gulf affairs at the Iranian foreign ministry told Zawya Dow Jones in a telephone interview.
Enayati said that Irancell has yet to respond to a request from Iran's Ministry of Information and Communication Technology for more information about its cellphone coverage.
Etisalat did not respond to requests for comment. Irancell and the Iranian communication ministry could not be reached for comment.
Irancell is the second largest mobile phone operator in Iran, with a 28% share of the local market. South Africa's MTN Group holds a minority 49% stake in Irancell, with the remainder owned by Iran Electronic Development Company.
Telecommunication Company of Iran, also known as MCI-Hamrah Aval, is the largest telecoms operator in Iran with a 70% market share.
Enayati said that both Hamrah and Irancell cover Abu Musa, but that Irancell's range might be weaker on some parts of the disputed island compared with the signal from Etisalat. Abu Musa lies about 60 kilometers from the U.A.E. coastline, closer to the emirates than to Iran, which is about 74 kilometers away.
The other two disputed islands, the Greater and Lesser Tunbsm, are uninhabited.
Iran seized control of the three Gulf islands in 1971, when the U.K. granted independence to the U.A.E. and other Gulf protectorates, and withdrew its forces from the region. Since then the U.A.E. has repeatedly called upon Iran to negotiate over ownership of the islands, including via international bodies, without receiving any response from Iran.
-By Leila Hatoum, Dow Jones Newswires; +971-4-4461686; leila.hatoum@dowjones.com
Copyright (c) 2012 Dow Jones & Co.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
17-05-12 1152GMT
