Vodafone Qatar’s commencement of mobile service in March will only be limited to a soft launch, serving a limited number of customers, CEO Grahame Maher has confirmed. A full commercial launch is now only expected by year-end.
CEO Maher told Comm. in August that meeting the required launch date in March would be challenging
“Not everyone will be able to use Vodafone on March 1, when we turn on our network in Qatar. There will be some select customers while the network is being turned on. The commercial launch of our service will only occur when we achieve quality that is benchmarked to Vodafone’s international standards,” Maher is quoted as telling local press.
“I’m not too worried about the number of customers [to begin with]. I’d rather have happy customers than lots of customers. It worries me about having too many customers and having something going wrong,” he added.
Vodafone was officially awarded the country’s second mobile licence on June 29 last year. In August, Maher told Comm. that the cellco was required to launch by March 2009, which would be challenging.
“However, it is a realistic target, and I remain bullish that we can achieve it,” Maher told Comm. at the time.
Vodafone Qatar is also waiting for confirmation from the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) regarding a new date for its initial public offering (IPO).
The IPO had originally been scheduled for October 2008, but due to the global financial crisis the QFMA advised the operator to hold off selling its required 40 per cent stake.
Vodafone Qatar expects a decision in February from the market regulator on whether it should conduct the IPO before November 30.
Currently, monopoly Qtel offers both fixed and mobile services in the Gulf state, while Vodafone was awarded a fixed-line licence in September in addition to its mobile concession.
Related stories
0 comments ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment