Summary

  • Iraq's CMC cancelled its September 2025 settlement with Korek Telecom on 2 June 2026 and has since enforced closures in eight governorates, backed by a Baghdad court that overturned Korek's interim stay in late August.
  • The money dispute is unresolved in both size and legal basis: US$375 million tied to the 2007 licence, about 1.4 trillion dinars under the cancelled settlement, and now more than 2 trillion dinars plus over US$1 billion in external debts per the CMC chief.
  • The next observable condition is 30 September 2026, the deadline after which the CMC says it will progressively shut Korek's switches and exchanges; federal versus Kurdistan Region jurisdiction is the second live fault line.

The subject of this briefing is Korek Telecom Company for Communications LLC, the Iraqi mobile operator tracked in BTW's directory. Press reports also render the name as "Korek Telecom Company LLC" or simply "Korek Telecom". It is distinct from Korek International Management Ltd, a co-defendant in a separate DIFC Courts case discussed below, and from the case's claimants, Iraq Telecom Limited and International Holdings Limited.

The state change: from settlement to enforcement

On 2 June 2026 the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) cancelled the September 2025 settlement agreement with Korek, citing failure to comply with contractual obligations despite multiple opportunities. It ordered suspension of operations, said it would pursue legal, regulatory and technical measures to recover an estimated US$1.5 billion in debts, directed its Consumer Voice Department to handle subscriber complaints, and warned government and private entities against entering new agreements with the company (Shafaq News). The licence itself had been declared expired in October 2023; service restrictions began with a November 2023 CMC decision and Korek's internet service was cut in mid-February 2025 (Rudaw).

The enforcement campaign then became physical. On 9 August 2026 the CMC announced a plan to shut down Korek's network and place liens on its assets. On 19 August it urged Korek users to register with other licensed operators and arrange alternative authentication (Wikipedia compilation). On 20 August it closed Korek's Jadriyah headquarters and three Baghdad sales centres on Arasat, Mansour and Palestine Street (Rudaw). Korek obtained a temporary stay, but Baghdad's Rusafa Court of First Instance overturned it in late August — Shafaq dated the ruling 26 August (Shafaq News), while 964media reported the stay's cancellation on 24 August after an appeal by CMC executive chairman Baligh Abu Galal (964media). The reports differ on the exact date and appellant; the substance — the stay is gone and the suspension stands — is common to both.

The closure map and the disputed money

Closures then spread beyond Baghdad: on 3 September 2026 to Karbala, Najaf, Diwaniyah and Babil, including a service centre at Najaf International Airport, conducted alongside the National Security Service (Wikipedia compilation; Baghdad Telegraph), and on 6 September to Kirkuk, Nineveh and Salah al-Din, reaching eight governorates across federal Iraq (964media).

The financial claim is layered and has grown as the dispute escalated. The original core is US$375 million connected to the 2007 mobile licence auction. Korek's position is that payment was conditional on the transfer of the former Iraqna subscriber base, which it says never happened, and that the 2025 settlement originated with a committee set up by the prime minister's office and depended partly on a 4G licence (Baghdad Telegraph). The September 2025 settlement put the outstanding amount at about 1.4 trillion dinars, roughly US$1.06 billion (964media). By September 2026, CMC chief Baligh Abu Kalal was citing more than two trillion dinars — about US$1.5 billion — plus external debts exceeding US$1 billion, and describing negotiations as having reached a dead end (Rudaw).

The two open fronts

The first front is the subscriber deadline. The CMC gave Korek users until 30 September 2026 to secure their digital accounts, saying it would progressively shut down Korek's switches and exchanges in Baghdad and other provinces after that date, while telling users not to destroy SIM cards or abandon their numbers (Rudaw).

The second is jurisdiction. Kurdistan Region Transport and Communications Minister Ano Jawhar said the federal CMC cannot shut Korek down in the Kurdistan Region, that Korek operates there under KRG and ministry decisions and will continue to do so, that more than 4 million citizens use Korek numbers, and called for a joint committee to resolve the dispute (Rudaw Turkish service). These operational claims come from a KRG minister's statement, not an independent operational record.

Korek's own position is that the measures are illegal and outside regulatory frameworks — board chairman Sirwan Barzani said so publicly — and the company says it has taken legal measures in three Iraqi courts; the Baghdad Telegraph also reported that Korek asked Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi to intervene (Rudaw; Baghdad Telegraph). Meanwhile Iraq's communications minister has proposed a state-linked fourth mobile licence with Vodafone as operator (Rudaw) — a proposal that would only become economically meaningful if Korek's spectrum and subscribers actually leave the market.

A separate ownership dispute runs through foreign courts: the DIFC Courts record a Court of Appeal judgment dated 16 June 2025 in Iraq Telecom Limited and International Holdings Limited v Korek Telecom Company LLC, Korek International Management Ltd and Sirwan Saber Mustafa (Jus Mundi). The retained record does not state the judgment's holding, so no outcome is asserted here.

What is actually decided, and what is not

What has taken effect: the settlement cancellation, the office closures in eight governorates, the collapse of Korek's interim stay, and the regulator's public instruction to subscribers. What remains announced or conditional: the progressive switch shutdown after 30 September, the asset liens, debt recovery of any particular quantum, the fourth licence, and any KRG-federal accommodation. The binding constraint on the entire trajectory is now a date plus two unresolved questions — who wins the legal challenge to the cancellation's validity, and whether Kurdistan Region jurisdiction blocks federal enforcement in the north.