Land-line repairs have suffered from the same problems that still afflict the electricity supply in Iraq: The infrastructure was poor to begin with, and insurgents fighting the occupation routinely sabotage key segments of the network.
But the absence of a mobile network is more irritating to Iraqis because they see the delay as the result of fighting within the Iraqi Governing Council over which companies should get the lucrative contracts.
Said one council member peeved at what he sees as his colleagues' pursuit of special interests: "This is the first opportunity for favoritism in the new Iraq."
Iraq's new communications minister, Haider Ebadi, announced the award of service licenses to three foreign providers in October after much jostling among the region's contenders.
The exclusive contracts, which would net government coffers only $5 million, were to go to Egypt's Orascom for Baghdad and the vicinity and to two Kuwaiti companies for the northern and southern sectors.
But complaints from unsuccessful American and Turkish bidders prompted the Pentagon's review of the selection process. The challengers contended that one of the winners had ties to Saddam Hussein's regime and that another was run by close friends of Governing Council member Ahmad Chalabi.
In Washington, the Pentagon inspector general's office said Thursday that it was escalating its probe into the awards to the three Arab service providers.
"It has moved from a preliminary inquiry to an investigation," a Defense Department official said.
A source familiar with the probe said a key focus was on the relationship between Orascom and an Iraqi-born British businessman, Nadhmi Auchi, who is said to have profited during Hussein's reign and was recently fined by a French court for violations involving his dealings with a French oil company.
Jowan Masum, the coalition's technical advisor to the Communications Ministry, dismissed the accusations as the griping of "sore losers."
"The true reason for the delay has been that we had to review each of the companies," she said, predicting that the license awards would be finalized within days.
Once the chosen companies get their licenses, it will take about three weeks to distribute SIM cards, which create customer accounts, to authorized dealers, Masum said.
Although the ministry predicts that service will start early next year, the sellers of mobile equipment say they've heard such predictions before.
