Court suspends regulator’s action against Korek days after offices closed

2026-08-23 | 16:10

BAGHDAD — A Baghdad court has temporarily suspended the Communications and Media Commission’s decisions against Korek Telecom, three days after the regulator closed the operator’s headquarters and three sales centres with the National Security Service.

The Rusafa court issued the urgent order on Sunday, Korek told 964media, and it holds “until the cases are formally resolved in court.”

Commission spokesperson Haider Najm did not respond to a request for comment.

The commission shut Korek’s Jadriya headquarters and outlets in Arasat, Palestine Street and Mansour last Wednesday, calling it part of measures to stop the company operating and enforce earlier decisions. It had already warned subscribers not to recharge balances or buy services because they could lose money if the network was shut, and advised them to add a second number on Asiacell or Zain Iraq for accounts relying on SMS verification.

The dispute runs back years. The commission barred Korek from selling or activating new SIM cards in October 2023, saying its licence had expired on Aug. 30, 2022 — four years ago — and that it had not settled hundreds of millions of dollars in obligations. In February 2024 it ordered Zain Iraq and Asiacell to cut interconnection, a decision the Kurdistan Regional Government’s transport and communications ministry publicly opposed.

The commission said in April that Korek owed about 1.4 trillion dinars, roughly $1.06 billion at the official rate, under a settlement signed in September 2025, with liabilities still accruing and liens already placed on the company’s assets. It cancelled that settlement in June, saying Korek had failed to meet its terms. Korek rejected the cancellation, saying the settlement came from a committee set up by the prime minister’s office in May 2025 and that the commission’s executive leadership could not terminate it unilaterally, and that implementation depended partly on securing a 4G licence comparable to those held by Zain Iraq and Asiacell.