TCI says Taliya still not able to roam

Iran’s largest cellular operator, state-owned TCI, says it will sign a roaming agreement with the country’s second national cellco Taliya only when the latter's network has capacity for two million subscribers. TCI managing director Saber Feyzi told local news agency ILNA that the roaming will be set up under the terms of a contract which has been in place for some time. Feyzi added that Taliya is still free to sign a roaming deal with the only other national cellular operator, MTN Irancell. TCI had around 13 million subscribers and 95% of the Iranian mobile market at the end of 2006, according to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms database. Taliya claimed an estimated 500,000 customers at the same date, while Irancell, which launched in October, had 154,000.