Ericsson enters strategic MoU with ictQATAR

Ericsson and Qatar’s Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) today announced the launch of a new strategic partnership that aims to boost the adoption of information and communications technology (ICT) in Qatar. The partnership, which was formalised through a memorandum of understanding, seeks to support Qatar’s National ICT Plan 2015.

The MoU was signed by Hassan Al-Sayed, ictQATAR assistant secretary general, IT and ICT Government Sector and Ray Hassan, president Ericsson Gulf Countries.

As part of the partnership, Ericsson and ictQATAR will collaborate in a number of areas including “Technology for Good” which covers initiatives such as sustainability through ICT solutions and also aims to use ICT to unlock the potential of the e-Economy such as e-Education and e-Government in Qatar and the region. Other areas of collaboration include revamping the ICT infrastructure, and enabling platforms to support consumer driven Arabic content development, and improving the quality and efficiency of ICT services.

In addition, Ericsson and ictQATAR will focus on ICT maturity in order to create a knowledge-exchange based environment to increase the ICT usage in Qatar while leveraging Ericsson’s global and local competence in the ICT industry.

Qatar’s National ICT Plan seeks to double the ICT sector’s contribution to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to US$3 billion by 2015, while also doubling the ICT workforce to 40,000 personnel during the same period. It also aims to achieve 95 per cent penetration of high-speed broadband, mass ICT and Internet adoption by all segments of society and the adoption of Internet-based services by key government agencies.