Technology Partners, a telecommunication consultancy in the Middle East, announced it won a bid to build a network management and subscriber services infrastructure for Iraq’s national telecommunications network.

It leads a consortium of companies that will deploy billing, network management and information systems connecting the 250 exchange sites across the country, allowing Iraq Telecom to start functioning as a commercial entity and supporting the reconstruction and development of the Iraqi national fixed line telecommunications network.
“Iraq currently has over one million subscribers to its landline network, a number which is expected to grow very quickly in a population of more than 24 million. This calls for a great need for investment in the infrastructure, which can only be made possible if Iraq Telecom can operate profitably,” said Omar Barzanji, CEO, Technology Partners.
“This contract supports a national telecommunications information platform that will immediately and effectively leapfrog the 15 years of technological development that has bypassed Iraq.”
The project, which will see the deployment of state-of-the-art billing and customer care management software from Argent Networks, resource provisioning software, Sun servers, Cisco routers and Lucent mediation technologies, will equip each of Iraq’s 250 telephone exchanges centres with PC-based workstations and trained CRM operators linked through to the central server farm in Baghdad, which will handle CRM, billing, network services, and fault reporting and engineering resource management.
More than 1,500 workstations will be installed across the country to equip operator positions. The platform architecture is designed with a roadmap and an upgrade path to a full next-generation operational support platform “NGOSS”.
Berzanji said Technology Partners would employ Iraqi engineers, using as much of the local resources as possible. It will conduct 300 weeks of training, 200 within Iraq and 100 in places such as Dubai and New Zealand.
Argent Networks will provide its integrated mediation, customer care and billing platform, which will drive the new information and customer management system.
“We’re passionate about the contribution this will make to Iraq and we’re thrilled at yet another clear win for Argent’s advanced billing and customer care solutions in the region,” said Chris Jones, chief executive Argent Networks
Iraq’s network is based on a heterogeneous mix of switching technologies, including digital and analogue exchanges from a number of vendors. The task of integrating the new system to such a complex mix of exchanges is being undertaken by Lucent Technologies, which has also recently been involved in a major project to rebuild damaged exchange facilities by installing containerised switching in 12 locations, bringing Iraq’s switched network back up to its pre-war capacity by replacing some 260,000 lines of switching.
“Lucent has taken a key role in rebuilding Iraq’s telecommunications infrastructure and we’re proud to have this opportunity to continue expanding the country’s facilities in order to support a fast return to normality for Iraq’s people.
The availability of effective national and international communications will underpin commercial as well as social activity in Iraq,” said Dan Machworter of Lucent Technologies.