Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
10RPODUBAI31
2010-02-04 13:14:00
SECRET//NOFORN
Iran RPO Dubai
Cable title:  

IRAN TELECOM EXEC GIVES TCI DEAL BACKSTORY

Tags:  PGOV IR PREL 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000031 

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/04
TAGS: PGOV IR PREL
SUBJECT: IRAN TELECOM EXEC GIVES TCI DEAL BACKSTORY

REF: DUBAI RPO 394 (2009)

CLASSIFIED BY: Alan Eyre, Director, DOS, IRPO; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RPO DUBAI 000031

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/04
TAGS: PGOV IR PREL
SUBJECT: IRAN TELECOM EXEC GIVES TCI DEAL BACKSTORY

REF: DUBAI RPO 394 (2009)

CLASSIFIED BY: Alan Eyre, Director, DOS, IRPO; REASON: 1.4(B),(D)


1. (C) SUMMARY: A senior executive at one of Iran's largest
Internet service providers claims that while the IRIG had actively
solicited his company's bid for the Telecommunications Company of
Iran (TCI),immediately prior to the awarding of the contract in
September 2009 IRIG officials requested the company to withdraw the
bid so it could be awarded to an IRGC-affiliated consortium. The
executive said the telecommunications sector in Iran has great
business potential, but in reality the telecoms business is limited
by the IRIG's unwillingness to privatize infrastructure and caps on
the number of customers receiving service. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) Note: This cable focuses on an Iran telecommunication
executive's insights on the TCI sale and its implications for the
telecom sector. A subsequent cable will focus on his comments on
the state of broadband in Iran, business prospects for
private-sector telecom providers, and the Internet experience for
the 'average' Iranian. End Note.

WE WANT YOU, WE NEED YOU...


3. (C) IRPO EconOff recently met a senior executive from the
'Pishgaman Kavir Yazd' Internet Service Providers, a subsidiary of
Pishgaman Kavir Yazd Cooperative (PKY). PKY was disqualified in
the September 2009 TCI 'privatization' in which Iran's largest
telecommunications company was purchased by a quasi-government
entity with strong connections to the IRGC (reftel). According to
the PKY executive, the IRIG first approached PKY and issued 'a
formal request' to bid more than a year prior to the privatization.
Throughout the process, the company received strong signals the
government was looking to divest to a strong private-sector entity,
and so it made a major investment in time, effort and financing in
preparing its bid for TCI, with the objective of acquiring
ownership of some of Iran's Internet infrastructure and expanding
its business (NOTE: PKY is one of the largest of Iran's 13 ISPs.
Unlike ISPs in the United States, ISPs in Iran do not own any of
the infrastructure on which their service runs. ISPs essentially
market ADSL service and rent space on the government network (TCI)

to carry Internet traffic. Our contact said the government network
routes all traffic to Tehran before it is sent to an international
gateway. END NOTE).


4. (C) The government's courting of PKY for more than a year led
company executives to believe that the government was serious about
privatization. As a result, the company spent USD 1.5 million and
devoted considerable other resources during a two-month period to
prepare their bid. It included securitization of the USD 8 billion
purchase price as well as a down payment of USD 275 million.

...ON SECOND THOUGHT, NOT SO MUCH


5. (C) According to our contact, high hopes of a "real
privatization" were dashed when PKY's CEO was called in by the
government's privatization commission on September 25, two days
prior to the scheduled privatization, and was asked to note bid.
PKY's CEO refused, on the grounds the company's 5,000 shareholders
would not accept a sudden withdrawal without good reason given the
amount of time and capital invested in preparing the bid.
Government officials offered the CEO a written statement indicating
that PKY was disqualified from bidding for security reasons, to
present to shareholders. Bidding was officially opened on September
27 and within 30 minutes, the IRGC-backed Etamad-e Mobin won the
bid with a down-payment price of USD 175 million (reftel).
According to the PKY executive, Etamad-e Mobin's down-payment was
approximately USD 100 million less than what PKY had submitted in
its bid.


6. (C) He said PKY is now using the disqualification letter and the
previous written endorsement to sue the government in an Iranian
court for USD 15 million in damages. According to our contact, the
court is sympathetic and the government has indicated that the
company will be compensated. Since the privatization, Etamad-e
Mobin has contacted PKY regularly for assistance in managing TCI.
PKY has declined and has decided to re-focus its energies on the
mobile market.

THE FUTURE


7. (C) Asked why PKY was not interested in helping manage TCI, our
contact made clear that the major benefit of owning TCI would have

DUBAI 00000031 002 OF 002


been to own the infrastructure. As such, managing the company
would only expose PKY to political risk with no real business gain.
Instead, the executive said the company is launching a venture into
the mobile business and looking at ways to further develop its ISP
infrastructure within the government's restrictive framework of
absolute ownership of the fixed-line network (septel). PKY's goal
in both endeavors is to own infrastructure. In the case of mobile,
the executive said PKY is teaming with Tata Communications from
India (also Parsi-lead, like PKY) to acquire a mobile license in
Iran. The company would build its own mobile network, something he
believes is plausible given that one foreign mobile player already
operates in Iran. The executive said he had high hopes that the
government will provide the mobile license partly in compensation
for the TCI debacle.


8. (C) COMMENT: The IRIG's handling of the TCI privatization and
its restrictive policies on ISPs make it clear the government's aim
for the foreseeable future is to keep a firm grip on Iran's
Internet and fixed-line infrastructure, as well as to slow the
penetration of broadband Internet access, in the interest of
national security. Despite indications that there were at least
some elements inside the government who favored privatizing the
country's telephone network, the decision was made in favor of
leaving it under the control of a "trustworthy" quasi-governmental
consortium that will allow guard state security and further enhance
the IRGC's economic interests. END COMMENT.
EYRE