First of all, forget about landlines. The only public telephones you will ever see are in Slemani (Sulaymaniya), working with prepaid chip cards. Apart from that, not even many hotel rooms will have a landline. Kurdistan is a mobile communication area. Even many landlines for individuals and businesses are not real landlines, but they are wireless circuit connections to the local landline switch (this product is called 'Nobile' by reber Telecom in Dohuk for example).
There are two main networks in the autonomous area, Korek dominating the northern parts with Dohuk and Erbil as their focal area, and Asiacell in the southern parts with home base in Slemani. That said, their geographic reach is being extended constantly, specifically since Asiacell (a subsidiary of the QTel group from Qatar by the way) received a nationwide license in 2007, allowing them to cover all of Iraq. Asiacell was the first mobile operator to receive such a license. Korek now has a similar license and is also expanding services to all parts of Iraq. In mid-2010, Zain (formerly known as Iraqna) was allocated such a license as well and it is expected that they will expand their services into the Kurdish area within 6 months.
Update summer 2011: Zain now also has an active network covering parts of the KRG area.
Update summer 2011: Zain now also has an active network covering parts of the KRG area.
Do not expect coverage outside cities and densely populated areas. My estimation as of end of 2010 is that the cities are very well covered, so are most parts of the roads between Zakho-Dohuk-Erbil, Erbil-Shaqlawa, Erbil-Slemani. Other areas are often only covered selectively.
Korek and Asiacell are offering a wide range of services to their customers, including voice (national and international calls), SMS and data. Voice quality for national and international calls is pretty good as to my experience, SMS are reliably delivered, and WAP access to the internet is possible at reasonable rates. Customer service is available by phone in Kurdish, Arabic and English, however the opening hours are less than 24/7.
Korek offers roaming services only to postpaid customers, it is a very costly service and limited to about ten countries. Asiacell has introduced prepaid roaming in November 2010, through callback USSD options (something like: 'dial *97*target number# then press send').
For inbound roamers, i.e. travellers with foreign SIM cards, availability depends on agreements between your home operator and the local partners. The networks are all working on GSM 900 standard like in Europe and Australia.
Foreigners can buy SIM cards easily, however you should by all means bring your own passport copy with you. Otherwise shops will charge you a fortune to get a copy from somewhere (however, usually they simply decline) or they will offer you to give you a SIM card registered under a different name. Which, let me point this out, I guess is not in line with regulations. Just imagine if you have a problem and go to one of the providers' branded shops... they will most likely not be able to help you and might even block your SIM card. This is what is happening in other Middle Eastern countries by the way.
For internet connection you will have a wide choice of cybercafés in every larger town, and of course in the cities as well. Highspeed services are available, and wireless LAN can be found virtually everywhere. However, you will not gain access without proper user credentials. Nothing is for free normally, just some hotels are offering free internet to their guests, so does Costa Rica Coffee in Erbil.
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