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Wireless Federation » archive for 'Qatar'

Qtel gifts low tariffs to its subscribers for the holy month of Ramzan (Qatar)

  • September 2nd, 2008
  • 5:40 am

Ramzan begins, another occasion for mobile operators to lure their customers. For the holy month of Ramzan, Qatar Telecom has sliced rates for local voice and video calls by 50 percent from 9pm till 6am every day of the sacred month. This offer is applicable to all mobile postpaid, Hala Prepaid and landline customers. On top of it, Qtel is providing its customers a range of special services and initiatives for Ramzan. The company has already extended its ‘Prayer Timing Alert’ service, which sends subscribers an automatic reminder of the specific prayer timing for each day. Throughout Ramzan, Qtel is making use of its multimedia services to provide subscribers with religious content.

MEEZA-Vodafone Qatar signed MoU to provide IT solutions (Qatar)

  • August 27th, 2008
  • 12:12 pm

MEEZA (joint venture with Qatar Foundation) signed an Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Vodafone Qatar to begin discussions for a long term solutions agreement. “MEEZA and Vodafone Qatar are in discussion to conclude an agreement in which MEEZA would provide an end-to-end turn key infrastructure solutions to support Vodafone’s core telecommunications and network management operation.”, CEO of MEEZA Scott MacKenzie said. MEEZA’s Tier III Data Centre will open in October 2008 and its one-of-a kind Tier IV Data Centre is scheduled for completion in 2010. These Data Centres will serve as an important foundation on which MEEZA will deliver a full portfolio of IT Solutions and Outsourcing Services to the market, he added.

QTel making a move to become one of the world’s top 20 telcos (Qatar)

  • August 27th, 2008
  • 6:56 am

According to the Chairman of Qatar Telecom, Qatar Telecom intends to pursue its rapid expansion policy to achieve its goal of becoming one of the world’s top 20 telecoms companies by market capitalisation by 2020.

Sheikh Abdulla bin Muhammad bin Saud Al Thani said that QTel’s buying spree will continue unabated. Its market cap has more than quadrupled to US$18 billion from US$4billion  and its presence has grown from one country to 16 in the past three-and-a-half years.

Sheikh further added that overseas activity does not mean that QTel will neglect its home market where Vodafone bought the licence to become the country’s second mobile operator and will start operating within seven months.

Qtel plans rapid expansion, continues a buying spree (Qatar)

  • August 26th, 2008
  • 7:29 am

Qtel has planned to continue a buying spree to reach its set goal of being one of the world’s top 20 telecoms firms by market capitalisation by 2020.

“I think we’re going at the right pace,” said, Qtel Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud al-Thani.
“It’s well-studied, well-measured. Just look at our record and we’ll keep going at the same speed,” he said.

According to Sheikh Abdullah, the firm will not engage in self important expansion rather than buying stakes in companies in its core areas.

Qtel recently acquired a stake in Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications Co.

   

Qtel brings Unlimited Live TV for it’s 3G subscribers (Qatar)

  • August 18th, 2008
  • 6:11 am

Qtel, Qatar, gave it’s 3G subscribers a new surprise by launching an offer called Unlimited Live TV. This offers an unlimited access to mobile TV broadcasts for 24 hours for fee of QAR5 (USD1.37).
The Mozaic 3G Live TV service now has four of Qatar’s most popular channels - Al Jazeera, Cartoon Network, Al Jazeera and Al Kaas.

   

Qtel permitted to acquire 49% stake in Indosat (Qatar, Japan)

  • July 28th, 2008
  • 1:38 pm

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) will be permitted to acquire no more than 49% stake in Indosat, confirms Indonesia’s Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Board.

The Middle Eastern investor already owns 40.8% of the company, meaning that it may buy no more than an additional 8.2% stake.

   

Vodafone Qatar planning September IPO (Qatar)

  • July 1st, 2008
  • 2:35 pm

Vodafone Group’s mobile phone unit in Qatar plans to sell shares in its initial public offering in September.

A Reuters report said according to daily the Peninsula newspaper, Qatar’s second biggest mobile phone operator would sell a 40% stake in the firm in an IPO and 15% to local institutional investors, leaving Vodafone and its local partner, Qatar Foundation, with 45% ownership.

HSBC Middle East and Qatar National Bank are lead advisers for the IPO, the Peninsula said.

Vodafone owns 51% of the new operator, which ended Qatar’s Telecommunications monopoly.

In December, Vodafone beat rivals including AT&T to win the license, ending the last Arab mobile-phone monopoly.

   

 

 

 

Vodafone to pay Qatar €1.3bn for mobile licence

  • May 29th, 2008
  • 1:41 pm

A unit of Vodafone Group will pay 7.72 billion riyals (€1.3 billion) for Qatar’s second mobile phone licence.

The report quoted the Gulf state’s telecom regulator saying that the deal, originally agreed in December, requires Vodafone to sell shares in incumbent Vodafone Qatar by the end of November: Vodafone owns 51% of Vodafone Qatar while the state-owned Qatar Foundation owns the remainder.

Qatar’s Supreme Council of Information & Technology also said operations are to begin in the first quarter of 2009 and will compete with state-controlled Qatar Telecommunications, which runs the country’s only mobile and fixed-line networks.

It beat rivals including AT&T to win the license that will end the last Arab mobile-phone monopoly, the report said.

The initial public offering will sell 40% of the company’s stock and 15% will be sold to state-owned affiliates, leaving Vodafone and Qatar Foundation with 45%.

The November deadline for the IPO is later than a June target originally outlined but the regulator did not explain the apparent delay.

   

Vodafone Qatar IPO update (Qatar)

  • April 24th, 2008
  • 2:32 pm

Vodafone Qatar, the country’s second mobile network operating licensee, has announced that it intends to appoint HSBC Middle East and Qatar National Bank to lead manage its upcoming initial public offering (IPO). The start-up joint venture, currently 51% owned by the UK’s Vodafone Group, with the rest held by the Qatar Foundation, must sell a 40% stake to the public by 30 June under the conditions of its concession it won in December. Following the IPO Vodafone will hold 45% of the Qatari unit’s share capital, with 40% in public hands and the remaining 15% held by Qatar government institutions. In a statement, the new cellco added that it had yet to receive regulatory approvals for its plans.

   

 

Five apply for fixed line licence (Qatar)

  • December 18th, 2007
  • 3:07 pm

Qatar’s telecoms regulator ictQATAR yesterday launched an auction for the country’s second fixed line network operating licence. ictQATAR published details of the application process on its website, with the licence expected to be awarded in April 2008. Five expressions of interest have already been received from the following parties: Argos Consortium (including US-based Verizon Communications), Bahrain Telecoms Company (Batelco), the UAE’s Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat), Italian alternative telco Eutelia and QIPCO Consortium (including PCCW-HKT of Hong Kong). The concession will be awarded through a ‘beauty contest’ procedure, involving comparative evaluation of the potential operators, with ictQATAR assessing the technical merits of the bids based on the quality of the network and the range of services proposed by applicants. The regulator also published the terms of the licence together with responses to an earlier consultation paper on the draft permit. The licence will cost a fixed fee of QAR10 million (USD2.75 million), and will allow facilities-based domestic and international services, including authorisation to operate an international gateway. Additional parties may still register their interest until 7 February 2008.

Commenting on the launch of the auction, Dr Hessa Al Jaber, Secretary General of ictQATAR, said ‘Our goal is to bring to the residents and businesses of Qatar a state of the art network combining the latest technologies and services. We believe this is a very attractive market - with an expanding population, multiple new residential and business developments and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.’ Last week the Vodafone & Qatar Foundation Consortium won Qatar’s second mobile network operating licence. Dr Hessa Al Jaber said that ‘Competition for this mobile licence from the international community was great and we expect a vigorous competition for the fixed licence as well.’ Both fixed and mobile licensees will compete with incumbent provider Qatar Telecom (Qtel).