Qtel counts two million mobile subscribers, representing 121 per cent penetration

Qtel today announced that it had successfully reached the milestone of two million mobile customers in Qatar, having reported a surge in sales in July, driven by the popularity of its Hala service and the increasing interest in Shahry – Pay Monthly, the a post-paid service.

Qtel has experienced accelerating growth within the Qatari market in 2009, registering 1.8 million customers in March 2009. The official population of Qatar stood at 1.65 million, according to the Qatar Statistics Authority (QSA), translating to a penetration rate of 121 per cent.

The incumbent’s strong performance in the past six months has been linked to the entry of the second telecoms provider, Vodafone Qatar, which was set to launch its mobile services commercially earlier this year, but is now set to do so sometime in Q3.