Access network cornerstone laid in Thi-Qar

THI-QAR / IraqiNews.com: The Thi-Qar communications & post department held a ceremony on the occasion of laying a cornerstone for the first access network project in Iraq at a cost of 5.279 billion Iraqi dinars ($4.400 million), the department chief said on Sunday. “The network will be provided by Chinese firm ZTE via an Iraqi company that will carry out the project in eight months’ time in several neighborhoods of al-Nassiriya city,” Eng. Hussein Mohammed Barakat told IraqiNews.com news agency. The neighborhoods are al-Bashaer, Ur, al-Sadr, al-Iskan al-Sinaie, al-Thawra, al-Sikak, al-Masab al-Aam, al-Imarat, al-Shomoukhm, al-Shoala, al-Zawya, al-Iskan al-Qadeem, al-Idara al-Mahliya, and al-Saray. “The network should serve 17,500 subscribers as a beginning. Its total capacity when the project will have been finalized is 30,000 subscribers in 34 booths covering all neighborhoods in Nassiriya through a 350-km-long optic-fiber cable,” said Barakat. AmR (P)/SR 1