An Iraqi court has overturned a decision by the country's communications regulator concerning Korek Telecom, handing the Kurdistan-based mobile operator a legal victory in a long-running dispute over a corporate merger.

Kurdistan 24 reported the ruling, which reverses a prior decision by the Communications Commission — Iraq's telecom regulator, formally known as the Communications and Media Commission (CMC) — regarding a merger involving Korek. The court found in favour of the operator, striking down the regulator's determination.

Korek Telecom is one of Iraq's three main mobile network operators, serving the Kurdistan Region alongside national rivals Asiacell and Zain Iraq. The company has been at the centre of a dispute over ownership and merger approvals that has run for more than a decade, pitting the operator against regulatory authorities in Baghdad.

The case traces back to a 2011 transaction in which Korek sold a minority stake to foreign investors, a deal the regulator later scrutinised. The CMC had challenged the arrangement, and its subsequent decisions over control of the company formed the basis of the legal battle that has now reached a court resolution in the operator's favour.

Thursday's ruling overturns the commission's merger decision and represents a significant reversal for the regulator. For Korek, the judgment restores the legal standing of the merger structure it had defended, ending — at least for now — a regulatory challenge to the company's ownership arrangements.

The decision carries commercial weight in a market of roughly 40 million people where mobile services remain a growth business. Iraq's telecom sector has long operated under overlapping authorities, with the federal CMC in Baghdad and the Kurdistan Region's own communications ministry both claiming jurisdiction over operators in the semi-autonomous north. Court rulings in such disputes often define which authority prevails in practice.

Korek's subscribers are concentrated in the Kurdistan Region, though the operator holds a national licence. The company competes against Zain Iraq, the local unit of Kuwait's Zain Group, and Ooredoo-owned Asiacell, both of which hold larger national market shares.

The court's decision does not by itself resolve every dispute between Korek and Iraqi regulators, but it removes a central legal obstacle the commission had placed in the operator's path. The regulator retains other supervisory powers over licensing and spectrum in the Iraqi market.

Attention now turns to whether the CMC accepts the ruling or pursues further legal options, and to how the decision affects Korek's ability to press ahead with network investment and commercial plans under its existing ownership structure.