According to Reuters and the Poul, Iran's government withdrew the country's third mobile license from Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co (Zain) and plans to conduct a new tender.

Telecommunication Minister Mohammad Soleimani said that Zain had not fulfilled its obligations. Iran awarded the license to Zain in May after stripping it from Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat). Iran said that Etisalat and Iran's Tamin Telecom, which won the license in January, had not paid their license fees on time. Etisalat had planned to invest up to US$ 5 billion over five years in its Iran operations.

The existing telecommunications providers in Iran are state-owned Iran Telecommunication Company (TCI) and Irancell, which is 49% owned by MTN. Iran has a mobile penetration rate of less than 60%.