Page 60 - IRANRptSep20

According to the IranAir website, a single Tehran-Madrid ticket is priced at Iranian rial (IRR) 98,952,000 ($2,350 at the official market rate, $430 at the free market rate).
9.2.4​ Healthcare corporate news
Iranian private insurance company opens in Iraq
Iranian private insurer Saman Insurance Co has opened in Iraq, according to IBENA.
Iran’s insurance industry is growing year by year as the sector matures and it is managing to open new ventures and joint projects in neighbouring states. Saman Insurance, a subsidiary of Saman Bank, is one of Iran’s newest operators and privately owned. It has strived to beat a separate path from many competitors.
As part of the Iraq branch offer, the company plans to offer cross-border health and emergency insurance to Iranians visiting Iraq.
Majority Shiite Iraq is a major destination for Iranian pilgrims who account for 20% of Iran's outbound tourism.
Saman Insurance has opened in Baghdad, while it has also kicked off two offices in the holy shrine city of Karbala.
The company said it planned to expand operations in Basra, Najaf and Iraqi Kurdistan’s Sulaymaniyah and Irbil.
9.2.5​ TMT corporate news
MTN sketches out how it plans to exit Middle East and says no imminent exit from MTN Irancell planned
Financial difficulties ‘may force Iran’s state broadcaster to shut down foreign-language channels’
South Africa-based MTN Group and its partly owned subsidiary MTN Irancell have sketched out details on the group’s planned exit from the Middle East, ​explaining that the offloading of the operations in Iran will take place over a timespan across the next three to five years, Mobile World Live reported on August 11.
In a cited statement, the businesses dismissed media reports suggesting an imminent exit from Iran, adding that their customer base “could rely on continuing to receive the great service they have come to expect”.
The group reportedly said its collaboration with MTN Irancell would therefore continue unaffected and the business “will be run as usual”.
MTN also noted it planned to dispose of its units in the Middle East “in an orderly manner over the medium term”, with initial moves planned for operations in Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen.
The group, Africa’s largest mobile operator, owns 49% in MTN Irancell. It is the second largest mobile operator in Iran with 47mn connections in Q2, figures from GSMA Intelligence showed.
Outgoing MTN CEO Rob Shuter announced last week that the group had decided it would be best served by focusing on its pan-Africa strategy.
Iran's state broadcaster may have to shut down several foreign-language channels due to financial strains caused by sanctions, mismanagement, falling viewership figures and longstanding differences between itself and the presidential administration, Radio Farda reported on June 10. Payman Jebelli, head of external services at Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB), was cited as saying that the organisation’s ideologically charged Al-Kowsar TV network as well as Iranian Radio's Dari service have already been closed due to accrued debts owed to satellite providers.
He added that a dozen TV channels including English-language Press TV and Arabic-language news network Al-Alam, as well as Spanish-language Hispan TV and i-Film channels in Arabic and English, were among networks exposed
60​ IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com