Iran has reportedly awarded a third national mobile network license after delays of over a year. Reuters, citing the country’s official IRNA news agency, reports that state-owned Tamin Telecom has received the license from the Iranian government. “The license was given on Saturday along with its consortium, and we are hopeful its SIM cards will reach the market in the course of the current year,” communications minister Reza Taqipour was quoted as saying. According to reports, the license is for GSM services and also includes a two-year exclusive deal for 3G services.

Tamin was part of a consortium, along with Middle Eastern operator Etisalat, which originally won a bid in January 2009 to operate the country’s third national mobile network. However, the winning bid was scrapped because the company failed to meet its obligations and runner-up Zain was awarded the deal. However, that deal also later fell apart. It is not known whether Tamin’s latest successful venture is in partnership with Etisalat. According to Wireless Intelligence, Tamin will be competing with market leader MCI and MTN Irancell. MCI enjoys a dominant 43 percent market share with 37 million connections. Iran also has regional operators such as MTCE, Taliya and TKC.