Page 59 - IRANRptJul20

opens in Iraq
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
Financial difficulties ‘may force Iran’s state broadcaster to shut down foreign-language channels’
MTN-Irancell ‘ready to attract expatriate investors’
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 to possible closure.
Jebelli reportedly accused President Hassan Rouhani’s administration of "negligence and deliberately exerting pressure on state TV", while adding that "the administration has refused to allocate foreign currency funds to the state broadcaster".
The Dari radio station has broadcast Shiite ideological programs into mainly Sunni Afghanistan for 40 years.
Jebelli did not elaborate on what the Rouhani administration's political motivation could be for depriving IRIB of funds, but added: "We thought the administration would do something to solve the problem after Al-Kowsar network was cut off."
The chief executive of MTN-Irancell—the second-largest mobile telecoms business in Iran—told IRIB on April 20 that the company is actively seeking investment from expatriate Iranians.
MTN-Irancell has more than 50mn active users and has led the way in 4G mobile broadband in Iran since 2016. The network has 86%-mobile coverage of Iran, taking in 1,606 cities and towns. The group, backed by South Africa’s multinational MTN telco group, has also invested heavily in the applications market, with its biggest apps investment to date taking the form of a joint project with Rocket Internet that has created the Snapp​!​ ride-hailing app.
The CEO, Bijan Abbasi Arand, said that MTN-Irancell was looking at opportunities to bring in foreign income including from expatriate finance and cited Snapp​!​ as one of its success stories.
Abbasi Arand added that a subsidiary business has been created to facilitate foreign investment in the company and attract foreign capital. He added that the new entity is set up to support further investment in startups in the country.
59​ IRAN Country Report July 2020 www.intellinews.com