Zain's Iraqi subsidiary plans to invest around 15% of its revenues this year on network upgrades and expansion and has confirmed that it will deploy a 3G service as soon as the regulator grants approval.

Last year the company invested US$200 million in its network, and this year that figure should top US$260 million, based on revenue estimates.

Zain Iraq's CFO, Wael Ghanayem told The National that the company is already working with Ericsson, Nokia Siemens Networks and Huawei on the 3G infrastructure plans.

He added that the regulator is in the final stages of preparing the 3G spectrum allocation.

The company is however still not compliant with its existing license obligations to list its shares on the local stock exchange, although it is working towards meeting that towards the middle of this year.