The Middle East's mobile phone market received a clear signal to move forward in October, following the award of three licenses in Iraq and new opportunities coming up in several other countries, reports the Economist Intelligence Unit. The region is one of a few in the world offering major new opportunities for investment in mobile telephony. Only four states in the region--Israel, Turkey, Bahrain and the UAE--can boast mobile penetration rates of more than 50 percent, and in many countries there are fewer that ten mobile users per 100 inhabitants, say the most recent figures from the International Telecommunications Union. Indeed, some countries are virtually untouched by mobile telephony, notably Iraq, while others have only just woken up to the potential of opening the market to competition. New business opportunities are coming up in the next few months in Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt and Oman, and there is the prospect of major prizes in 2004 as Saudi Arabia opens up its market and Libya and Iran move ahead with long-promised new projects.