Member of Parliament Amer Abdul-Jabbar called on the government Thursday to collect the outstanding debts owed by mobile phone companies, saying the money could help ease the country’s liquidity crisis and ensure public employees receive their salaries.
He urged the government to consider replacing companies that fail to pay their debts and refusing to renew their operating licenses until they settle what they owe.
Speaking to dinaropinions.com, Abdul-Jabbar said the current government inherited a large amount of debt from previous administrations and is facing serious difficulties in securing enough money to pay employee salaries.
He said recovering money owed to the state by private companies, especially telecommunications firms, should be a priority.
Abdul-Jabbar criticized mobile phone companies for making huge profits while providing poor services to Iraqi customers. He also pointed to high call charges and expensive phone cards, saying these companies have failed to meet their financial obligations to the government.
He added that the government has strong leverage to recover the unpaid money by refusing to renew existing companies’ contracts and bringing in new international telecom operators to replace them.
According to Abdul-Jabbar, taking this step would pressure current mobile phone companies to settle their accounts and pay all outstanding debts to the state.