Qatar’s regulator ictQatar has been forced to issue a statement affirming that only two licensed telecom operators are permitted to provide services in the country. It is a move aimed at pacifying Vodafone Qatar, Qatar’s second licensed operator behind Qtel, which is challenging Qtel’s arrangement with Virgin Mobile for the UK MVNO to offer prepaid services in the emirate.

William Fagan has made it clear that Qatar still only has two licensed telecom providers, which are encouraged to use innovative practices

In the middle of last month Virgin Group announced it had introduced Virgin Mobile services in Qatar, in a brand partnership with Qtel. Thus Virgin Mobile acts as a reseller of Qtel minutes that are offered under the Virgin Mobile brand. However, Vodafone Qatar argues the introduction of an additional telecom brand as vibrant and active as Virgin Mobile has virtually the same impact as the entrance of a third player, and is thus challenging Virgin Mobile’s right to operate.

Vodafone Qatar has instituted legal action against ictQATAR, viewing the ‘unlicensed’ launch of Virgin Mobile as a breach of the conditions of its contract. Vodafone paid QAR 7.7 billion (US$2.12 billion) for the second mobile licence in 2007.

“ictQATAR does not object to licensed telecommunications operators using innovative practices to provide different products and services to the public,” commented William Fagan, assistant secretary general and executive director of the Regulatory Authority at ictQATAR.
“However, ictQATAR does not want the public in Qatar to be misled in any way about who is actually providing these services. To be clear, there is no third licensed mobile operator. There is also no licensed mobile virtual network operator (MVNO).”

Sohail Qadri has been appointed group CEO of Wi-tribe, replacing Sami Hinedi, and commencing duties June 1. Hinedi was in the position for three years.

Prior to this appointment, Qadri advised the boards of a number of technology, communications and venture capital and private equity firms on value creation, corporate structuring, market, product and corporate development. In his most recent corporate role, he served as the group strategy director at Telefonica with responsibility for corporate strategy, business development and innovation. Qadri also sat on Telefonica’s boards in the Czech Republic and the shareholder telco board in Italy.
Wi-tribe, an operator owned by the Qtel Group and utilising WiMAX technology, currently has a presence in Bahrain, Jordan, Pakistan and Philippines.

This year the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona had a much more optimistic feel towards the global telecom market, a contrast to the uncertainty that gripped the event in 2009. Mobile data; the continued development of great mobile applications; the growing importance of smartphones; the rallying call around LTE ; and the need to manage costs and optimise operations were amongst the main talking points this year

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UAE retailers CompuMe and i2 Mobile have been acquired in a management buyout led by chief executive Dikran Tchablakian.

Tchablakian had owned 40 per cent of digital and IT products and services provider CompuMe, with the rest of the company owned by Saudi based mobile retailer i2.

Tchablakian has now acquired the other 60 per cent of CompuMe, as well as 100 per cent of i2’s operation in the UAE, making an undisclosed investment in the venture.

i2 group’s operations are spread across 21 countries, and are being sold to local partners. The retail deal is restricted to i2’s operations in the UAE only.

Tchablakian (second from the left) details the management buyout of i2 and CompuMe

“The buyout will allow us to focus on the growth of the company and its expansion. We will now use the synergies of both firms to create more powerful brands,” Tchablakian said.

The deal was brokered by the Arab Emirates Investment Bank.

The combined CompuMe and i2 retail entity has 17 outlets, the majority of which are located in Virgin Megastores. At the same event at which the companies detailed the management buyout, CompuMe and i2 also detailed plans to extend their partnership with Virgin Megastores across the Middle East, offering IT, digital and mobile phones sales support.

Tchablakian founded CompuMe in 1998, starting franchise operations covering UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain. In December 2006 Tchablakian and i2 began negotiations on a share-swap deal for CompuMe to be acquired by i2 Group, with the deal finalised in January 2007. Tchablakian acquired 40 per cent of the UAE group.

Later in 2007 i2 when on to acquire CompuMe, taking control of CompuMe’s UAE business as well as the franchise stakes CompuMe owned in Bahrain, Egypt and Saudi.

The deployment of HSPA+ offers significantly reduced CAPEX investment compared to LTE, according to analysis by Aircom International, an independent network planning and optimisation company.

Reduction for a UK operator could be as much as £345 million (US$497 million in 12 months; and as much as $1.19 billion for a US operator.

The company’s analysis highlights why HSPA+ could make short-term commercial sense to a wide range of 3GPP operators contemplating their mobile broadband network migration strategies, return on investment and new pricing models are the key factors. 

HSPA + is viewed as compelling as it is available today, the technology offers up to 21Mbps without any additional antenna infrastructure or second carrier – allowing users to experience mobile broadband around five times faster than the current average of 3.6Mbps. HSPA+ also allows mobile operators to control service provisioning and prioritisation, delivering quality of experience (QoE) and quality of service (QoS) guarantees. 

“There is great pressure on operators to upgrade their networks and improve the level of service they deliver to consumers and enterprise customers. The so-called ‘iPhone effect’ is piling pressure on to existing infrastructure.  There is a real and immediate need for operators to upgrade their networks, but LTE is not the answer – today at least,” said Aircom services director (product management), Fabricio Martinez.

“HSPA+ is able to meet – and exceed – current data demands, delivering a theoretical maximum of 21Mbps and an average experience of around 16Mbps. With average mobile broadband users experiencing around 3.6Mbps, this is a significant increase,” Martinez continued.

Aircom’s analysis concludes that adopting HSPA+ as the next step enables operators to meet customer demands quickly and cost-effectively, using existing infrastructure and spectrum.  And, when the time is right – when expanding HSPA+ capacity is less economical or operationally more challenging than upgrading to LTE – HSPA+ offers a natural evolution path to LTE.