The world might be getting twitchy about Iran's overt and covert nuclear programmes and the imminent testing of a long range missile that could hit Israel and/or US bases in the Gulf and Turkey and thus precipitate the Third World War but, inside the topsy-turvy world of the Islamic Republic, the eyes of those that have not been jailed for protesting the recent fixed presidential election are being firmly directed onto the telecoms industry, reports Martyn Warwick.
So, comes the news today that a so-called "consortium" has bought "50 per cent plus one share" in the state-owned carrier, the Telecommunication Company of Iran (TCI) the for the equivalent of of some US$7.8 billion.
Iran's geriatric theocracy presided over by the permanently tie-less and, some would opine, equally clueless Mr. Imadinnerjacket might be de facto dictators but they are also, apparently, in favour of a bit of competition and privatisation - provided it's state-sponsored.
So this morning the "semi-official" Mehr News Agency (whatever that means) has been instructed to cite a report issued by the country's "Privatisation Organisation" to the effect that two consortia have been vying to take a controlling interest in TCI.
And now there's a winner. Let joy be unconfined.
According to the Mehr News Agency the TCI made a bid to buy itself and was partially successful. Strange that. However, the real winner turns out to be Etemad Mobin a "co-operative" owned by, of all things Iran's Republican Guards. Henceforth subscriber's will have to be bloody careful to ensure they pay their bills on time or the lads'll be round with the pliers.
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