Vodafone Qatar granted fixed licence

Vodafone Qatar has been awarded the country’s second fixed-line licence, a decision that is subject to approval at an extraordinary shareholder meeting.

The operator broke the Middle East’s last monopoly telecom market by winning the bid for the country’s second mobile licence at a cost of US$2.12 billion in 2007. It launched its commercial mobile network in July 2009, and recorded an operating loss of QAR 495.6 million (US$137 million) for the nine-months ending December 2009.

Vodafone Qatar ended 2009 with 353,580 mobile subscribers, more than double the number at the end of September. The operator’s subscribers represented 22 per cent of the population, and a market share of 14 per cent.

In September 2008, Qatar’s telecom regulator ictQatar announced the award of Qatar’s second fixed licence to the Vodafone and Qatar Foundation Consortium, for a fixed fee of QAR10 million. Vodafone and Qatar Foundation beat off competition from Jordan Telecom and PCCW in pursuit of the second licence.

There are approximately 285,000 landlines in Qatar at present, representing a penetration rate of 30 per cent.