Mil-Tech

Internet and e-commerce industry in Iraq

We are to consider today Internet and e-commerce industry of one of the Arabic countries, located in Western Asia, Iraq. This Muslim country is spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert. Iraq is bordered by Jordan to the west, Syria to the northwest, Turkey to the north, Iran to the east, and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia to the south. The economy of the country is dominated by the oil sector, which has traditionally provided about 95% of foreign exchange earnings.

As for the country’s telecom market, it has undergone much repair and development since the end of hostilities. Until the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Internet access was tightly controlled and very few people were allowed to go online.

Thus far, the most developed and mature appeared to be mobile sector, with four operators sharing the market. But Zain of Kuwait’s subsidiary Zain Iraq has much the largest market share, with well over 50% share. Actually, boom in mobile sector can be partially explained by the lack of any significant fixed-line market, with infrastructure almost non-existent outside of the capital, Baghdad. There is also a great lack of fibre-optic backbone infrastructure, both nationally and for international connections. With better backbone infrastructure mobile Internet services could probably be successful but as yet 3G/HSPA services are not available.

Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Internet access has become commonplace. At present, the stress is making on developing the network, with the national regulator launching a tender for wireless local loop licenses. The major development has been the establishment and rapid growth of mobile services from a zero start following the award of three temporary mobile licenses.

Several Wireless Local Loop licenses have been awarded and operators have launched services using CDMA networks but they have not as yet made much impact.

The incumbent Internet services provider, Uruklink, used to be the sole Iraqi ISP. However, currently the leading operator faces competition from other ISPs, including broadband satellite Internet access services from both Middle East and European VSAT hubs.

The premier military telecom service provider competing the national incumbent appeared to be TS2, an Internet Provider for US Army soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Despite most of all active TS2 users are Polish and US Army soldiers, the operator’s solutions have been implemented also for private companies and organizations. Before end of 2007 year, the TS2 solutions have been available for numerous NATO military entities. Since 2009 TS2 started advertising satellite Internet services for the US Marine Corps in Afghanistan. At present, TS2′s network in Iraq and Afghanistan has over 15 thousand military users of local broadband satellite connections. TS2 also delivers telecommunication services for Iraq-based Police Transition Teams.

Since 2006 several other companies were launched their services, offering cheaper services and smaller bandwidth affordable for single users such Advanced Technology Systems-Iraq. As of 2010, the top 4 ISPs in the capital of the country operate:

• Rose Telecom, delivering speed up to 4/0.7 Mbps in off-peak times and 512/128 in peak times
• Halasat, offering speed up to 3/0.5 Mbps in off-peak times
• Earthlink, targeting home/single users
• ATS-Iraq, also targeting individual users

Among other ISPs operating on the Iraqi market successfully, according to ostamyy there are:

• Afaq Link Technology – offers communication and Internet services by providing satellite system and wireless services in Iraq.
• Baghdad Telecom – provides infrastructure solutions in the areas of wireless, security and other IT solutions to small, medium and large entreprises in Iraq.
• Nashita – represents a leading ICT US-based ICT Company providing Satellite Internet in Iraq since 1999 and now provides both dedicated and shared VSAT satellite internet service in Iraq.
• Iraq Satellite Internet Services – delivers high-speed Internet connectivity in Iraq with our high-performance Galileo satellite network.

Interestingly, because of the disappearance of phone lines since 2004, all the Iraq’s ISPs uses the Wi-fi Technology to deliver Internet connection. The Iraqis are waiting for the current government to start repairing the phoneline to provide them with the cable/DSL Internet.

Internet access, limited prior to the war, has grown quickly since then due to the availability of satellite broadband access and the opening of Internet cafes. Nevertheless, Iraq has the lowest in the Middle East penetration level, with 1.1% Iraqis connected, as says www.internetworldstats.com. In order to compare, we are to note, that only 0.1% of people in Iraq, or 12,500, were subscribed to the Web. At present, mainly Iraqis get Internet access at Internet cafes with satellite connections.

Internet country code top-level domain (ccTLD) for Iraq is .iq, administered by Network Information Center of Iraq. Registrations are mainly available at third-level domains beneath following second-level categories:

• gov.iq – Governmental entities
• edu.iq – Educational Institutions
• com.iq – Commercial entitites
• mil.iq – Military Institutions
• org.iq – Non-profit organizations
• net.iq – Network Service Providers

Importantly, .iq domain name had previously been in limbo for years, as the delegated manager was imprisoned in Texas on charges of alleged connection to Hamas for which he was later convicted in 2005. Some talk of redelegation and relaunching began taking place at the time of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and in 2005 a redelegation to the National Communications and Media Commission of Iraq was approved by ICANN.

As for e-commerce sector in Iraq, it’s eventually on the initial stage of its development due to the imperfection of Internet infrastructure in the country.

However, more and more businesses are launching their websites; and business cards are now displaying e-mail addresses.

Besides, there was launched a new Iraqi Business Center that represents a partnership between the CPA and the Iraq Ministry of Trade and provides on-site business counseling for the local Iraqi business community.

The Center is located at the Convention Center in Baghdad and has an informative website at www.iraqibusinesscenter.org, which however, is temporary under construction. The Iraqi Business Center website provides a database of Iraqi companies seeking subcontracts and international partners for work in Iraq.

The sites like this, or some others like, for instance, the US Department of Commerce Iraq Reconstruction Task Force website, target to promote the present and future use of the internet by businesses wishing to do business in Iraq.

Importantly, the US Commerce has one of the best websites for obtaining Internet information regarding business opportunities in Iraq.

An international business center was recently opened in Kirkuk. It is operated between the local government, Coalition forces, the Kirkuk Chamber of Commerce, and the Kirkuk Contractors Union. One of the prevalent goals is to facilitate coordination between local and international businesses and to facilitate unsolicited bids for reconstruction work.

Since 2003 the Central Bank of Iraq has authorized Iraq’s private banks to process international payments, remittances and foreign currency letters of credit. However, national banks are still not offering on-line banking services and transactions. Thus far, Iraqi banks need to do e-business in order to provide security. This would include authentication, data integrity, confidentiality, payment gateway.

As for the e-government page, since 2003 Iraq has been in transition and led by the US Coalition Provisional Authority. Future goals for the Iraqi and other e-governments include a national ID, health care database, and e-voting.

However, some barriers still exist in Iraq for successful e-government deployment. Among them, like in other countries in the region, there are: societal rigidity, weakness in ICT education, unfair income distribution resulting in lack of access to ICT education and technology. Iraq faced brain drain when thousands of Iraqis fled the country or were forced to leave during Saddam Hussein’s regime.

Well, despite this Muslim country cannot boast about the high level of ICT progress and as the result of e-commerce sector development, some good signs of future success in this sphere are obvious.

Army Has Put Safeguards In Place For Satellite Transmissions

The military got one of its biggest security-related wake-up calls in many years in late 2009 when it learned that Iraqi insurgents were intercepting Predator transmissions by using easily available hardware.

Interception of transmissions is also possible with satellite communications that pass through very-small-aperture terminals, which has inspired extensive efforts to beef up what’s commonly called transmission security (transec) for VSATs. The worry is that an adversary would be able to determine traffic patterns.

That vulnerability is not new, and it relates to the nature of communicating with satellites. Satellites beam their transmissions to a wide area so anyone in the proximity can intercept those transmissions. The technology to obfuscate satellite traffic patterns has existed for only the past couple of years.

“Without transec, it’s possible that for an adversary to tell who is talking to whom,” informed Karl Fuchs, vice president of engineering at iDirect Government Technology. The company provides one of the key elements of military VSATs: the modem, which is where transec is housed. “In other words, is a lot of traffic going to Site A and very little traffic going to Site B, and then all of a sudden that changes and Site B is getting all the traffic? The adversary might not know exactly what’s going on, but they know something’s happening at Site B.”

Captured VSAT transmissions can also reveal the priority level of traffic. As in the example above, a sudden shift from low-priority transmissions to high-priority ones could alert an enemy about impending action.

One of the steps the military is taking to improve transec is transitioning from hardware key exchanges to software key exchanges.

“The key exchange is really the differentiator in what makes it easy or cumbersome for the end user,” Fuchs informed. “The key to usability is the implementation of software key exchange as opposed to hardware key exchange. We are trying to help soldiers by extending this to the global network.”

The military also is working to make it easier to configure VSATs by addressing the IP configurations through which they communicate. The goal is to enhance worldwide portability so a VSAT configured in the United States can be deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan or any other part of the world and will operate as previously programmed with little to no user intervention.

“This means maintaining a persistent IP address from location to location to location around the globe,” Fuchs informed. “That portability and usability is really what’s key to making this system effective for the end user. This is very much a modem challenge and, ultimately, an operator challenge because whoever owns the network has to design it with portability in mind.”

Programs of Record

The Army’s VSATs are managed by the Project Manger Warfighter Information Network-Tactical — part of the Program Executive Office for Command, Control, Communications-Tactical. PM WIN-T is perhaps best known for its communications-on-the-move program, but it also is responsible for all tactical military satellite communications terminals that the Army buys.

That includes tactical terminals for the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites, of which three are in orbit and three are under construction, and the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the first of which is expected to be launched in the fall. AEHF satellites will operate in the portion of spectrum that the military uses for protected, anti-jamming communications.

Proactive Communications, Inc. (PCI) – Secure Satellite Communications and Remote Tactical Access Networks

Proactive Communications (PCI) has a military heritage that makes the company uniquely qualified to assist with information communications technology (ICT) in support of the diverse and challenging missions being confronted by today’s military. PCI is an all-conditions satellite communications (SATCOM) provider with worldwide service-delivery capabilities, even in harsh environments such as warzones.

The VSAT network PCI designed in Iraq to support US forces and the Iraqi Ministry of the Interior is the world’s largest secure SATCOM Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) installation in the world. Our all-conditions capabilities also make us well-suited for disaster recovery communications, as well as a broad range of enterprise IT solutions.

Secure voice, video and data via satellite communications – anytime, anywhere
PCI’s personnel understand the importance of a secure network for war-fighters, because they’ve been war-fighters themselves. The company is well-staffed and well-equipped for service in challenging environments that require rapid deployment and employees embedded onsite in the field. As a result, PCI has become a proven war-zone resource to US military commanders, particularly in Afghanistan and Iraq, where the company has supported US Army operations since 2004.

As organizations begin to identify mission-critical communications needs, PCI’s engineers work directly with military personnel throughout the mission analysis process. PCI quickly analyzes the requirements, then designs and engineers an ICT solution for even the most complex and demanding problem.

DRS Defense Solutions’ Telemedicine Network Project

DRS Defense Solutions, LLC. a wholly-owned subsidiary of DRS Technologies, Inc., announced that its Joint Tele-Medicine Network (JTMN) project team has been recently recognized, receiving first place honors, for outstanding service to American’s Warfighters by the DoD Chief Information Officer/G6.

The JTMN team is responsible for the design and installation of the Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite systems installed at military hospitals and clinics throughout Southwest Asia. The systems are used to transmit critical medical data from hospitals and clinics to medical experts for the rapid triage and treatment of patients.

This satellite based network gives radiologists time to review x-rays films in advance of patient arrival to higher level medical treatment facilities. With data reaching these facilities in less than 10 minutes, physicians are able to prepare treatment plans for wounded warriors before they arrive.

The First Place Team Award was presented October 28, 2009, during the DoD CIO Executive Board Meeting at the Pentagon.

The JTMN team consists of key military and government members from the Office of the Surgeon General, PM Defense Wide Transmission Systems, and DRS Technical Services employees collaborating from Falls Church, VA; Mac Dill Air Force Base, FL; Fort Monmouth, NJ; Germany; Iraq; Kuwait and Afghanistan. The team has been deployed throughout Southwest Asia since 2003.

Satellite Broadband Internet in Iraq and Afghanistan for U.S. Troops

WARSAW, Poland, Jan. 22 /Reuters/ — TS2 Satellite Technologies‘ network in Iraq and Afghanistan has over 15,000 military users of local broadband satellite connections.

“We were among the first telecommunications operators in the satellite technology in the territory of Iraq and Afghanistan, and as such we have enjoyed a successful cooperation with the U.S. Army for several years now,” says Marcin Frackiewicz, CEO of the TS2 Satellite Technologies.

TS2 Satellite Technologies offers two-way high-speed Internet access with no phone lines, no cable and no dial-up modem. It’s always on, available virtually anywhere, and affordable. The laptop or Wi-Fi network can receive Internet signal through a special satellite VSAT modem, which was usually set up in a building or tent when deployed.

The one VSAT access point provides the following services for soldiers:

– Broadband access to the Internet (WWW, E-mail, FTP etc.)
– Data transfer to many other users simultaneously
– Telephone connections including VoIP, IP phone
– Video-conference connections

Advantages of the system:

– Short set-up time
– Fast and easy upgrades
– Possibility of guaranteed CIR
– Transmission in almost all weather conditions

The communication among the bases is possible thanks to the simultaneous lease of bands on the Intelsat 10-02, Intelsat 901 and Eutelsat W6 satellites whose coverage enables configuration of connections between any place in Europe, Middle East and Southwest Asia.

TS2′s satellite military networks are located in Al Taqaddum Air Base, Bahgram AF, Balad Base, Baquba Airfield, Brassfield-Mora, Cob Adder, Cob Speicher, Camp Al Asad Airbase, Camp Bucca Basra City, Camp Buehring, Camp Charlie Basra, Camp Eggers, Camp Fallujah, Camp Grizzly, Camp Korean Village, Camp Liberty, Camp Mejid, Camp Ramadi, Camp Slayer, Camp Stryker, Camp Taji, Camp Victory, Fob Bagram, Fob Brassfield Mora, Fob Delta Al Kut, Fob Diamondback, Fob Falcon, Fob Garryowen, Fob Gardez, Fob Ghazni, Fob Kalagush, Fob Kandahar, Fob Lagman, Fob Mchenry, Fob Marez, Fob Normandy, Fob Rustamiyah, Fob Summerall, Fob Sykes, Fob Salerno, Fob Torkham, Fob Warhorse, Fob Warrior, Herat RTC, Jallahabad Air Base, Kabul Airport, Kabul Camp Eggers, Kandahar Air Base, Lsa Anaconda Balad, Q-West Base Complex and Tallil Ab Lsa Adder.

Especially for U.S. Military Personnel, Contracting Officers and DoD Contractors, TS2 delivers satellite equipment to most of all military addresses in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Middle East, within maximum of 7 days.

Supported military locations in Iraq -
http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Iraq-for-US-Army-Soldiers

Supported military locations in Afghanistan -
http://www.ts2.pl/en/Internet-in-Afghanistan-for-US-Army-Soldiers

Contact:

Piotr Kubiak and Michal Skrok
TS2 Satellite Technologies
phone +48 22 630 70 70
fax +48 22 630 70 71
http://www.ts2.pl