$300m start in Iraqi mobile licence auction

Link: Iraq sets $300 million bid price in mobile licenses | Technology | Reuters

Got $300m in spare change sitting idle in your bank account? Then congratulations, you qualify to bid for one of the three 15-year mobile licences in everyones favourite holiday destination – Iraq.

“The price will start from a certain level which is $300 million plus 18 percent revenue sharing,” Communications Minister Mohammed Allawi told Reuters on Thursday ahead of the auction.

The 15-year licenses replace three short-term contracts awarded soon after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Depending on the offers, the bids will rise $50 million at each round with the minimum 18 percent revenue sharing set in the auction possibly rising, Allawi said.

A bargain, considering the £5bn or so paid by the UK operators for their 3G licences.