Qatar Telecom News Vodafone consortium wins Qatar telecom bid (From The Gulf News, December 10, 2007) Dubai: Vodafone and Qatar Foundation Consortium yesterday won the bid for the second telecom licence in Qatar defeating Argos (Verizon) and etisalat, which will effectively end the monopoly of Qtel. ictQatar, the telecommunications regulator yesterday selected the Vodafone and Qatar Foundation Consortium as the successful applicant for the second mobile telecommunications licence in Qatar, a statement said. "They submitted the highest bid in the second round auction. The other eligible consortiums submitting bids were Argos (Verizon) and etisalat," the statement said. The licence will be issued when closing procedures are completed. The new licensee is expected to launch service during 2008. ictQatar had earlier received initial bids from Argos Consortium, AT&T Qatar Mobile Consortium, etisalat Consortium, MTC and Partners Consortium and Vodafone and Qatar Foundation Consortium who had qualified after the technical evaluation phase. They were requested to submit one further bid to complete the auction process. Qatar gets seven bids for mobile phone license (September 18, 2007) DUBAI (Reuters) - Qatar received bids from seven of 12 qualified companies and groups for the Gulf Arab state's second mobile phone license, the telecom regulator said on Tuesday. AT&T, Vodafone and a group including Verizon Communications Inc were among those that bid, Qatar's Supreme Council of Information & Communication Technology said in a statement. Emirates Telecommunications Corp, Bahrain Telecommunications Co, Kuwait's Mobile Telecommunications Co and a group including India's Airtel also submitted bids. The regulator said in July it had short-listed 12 companies and groups to bid for the license that will end the monopoly of Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel) in the country of 840,000 people. Oman Telecommunications Co was among five companies that pulled out of the race. Egypt's Orascom Telecom, Jordan Telecom Group and a group led by Belgacom were also on the shortlist. The regulator said it would review technical bids before inviting companies to submit financial bids in an auction that is likely to happen in early November. Mobile penetration in Qatar, holder of the world's third-biggest reserves of natural gas, exceeds 100 percent. Its population should grow to 1.3 million by 2015, driving mobile phone use, the regulator said in April. Qtel chooses Visto to power mobile email in Qatar (April 7, 2007) REDWOOD CITY, Calif. (PRNewswire) - Visto Corporation, the leading global provider of secure and easy-to-use mobile email, has been chosen by Qatar Telecom (Qtel), to deliver its new mobile email services. Qtel has implemented Visto's market-leading Visto Mobile(TM) platform to offer Qtel Mobile Email Service, its own branded mobile email offering, to its fast growing subscriber base. Qtel's Mobile Email service provides busy mobile professionals with a choice of 27 mobile handsets with which to send and receive email on the move, access and update their desktop calendar, and search their contacts - safely and securely, and without having to make any adjustments to the corporate firewall. The new Qtel mobile email service is already available on Symbian- powered UIQ, Nokia Series 60 and Series 80 devices, and also Pocket PCs and Smartphones that use Windows Mobile, with more handsets to be launched in the near future. "By working with operator partners like Qtel, Visto has expanded its reach into more regions on more mobile handsets than any other mobile email provider" said Frederic Aries, Senior Vice President and General Manager, EMEA. "We will continue to penetrate markets all over the world by offering a service that is easy to install and use by providing our service on the world's most popular handsets. As more operators like Qtel begin to roll out affordable service packages on a wide range of mobile phones, mobile email adoption will catapult to new levels of growth previously unseen in the market." Qtel's launch of its Visto-powered service furthers Visto's sustained success working with the world's leading operators to bring mobile email to the broader market. Global Market Insite (GMI) recently commissioned a study that revealed that mainstream attitudes are changing as over 45% of those surveyed not currently using mobile email expect to do so in the next 3-12 months. As the sole provider of mobile services to Qatar, Qtel is well positioned to take advantage of this burgeoning opportunity and open up the market by offering an easy-to-use mobile email service on all of the leading mobile phones. After two successful customer trials with leading businesses in Qatar - QNB and Ras Gas -- Qtel Mobile Email has been made immediately available to mobile professionals throughout the country. Qtel buys 51% stake in Wataniya for $3.72b (March 3, 2007) Kuwait (Reuters) - Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) has agreed to buy 51 per cent of Kuwait's National Mobile Telecommunications (Wataniya) for 1.075 billion dinars ($3.72 billion), the largest telecom acquisition in the Gulf region. "We have reached an agreement to sell 51 per cent of the capital of Wataniya ... to Qtel," Faisal Al Ayyar, chief executive of Kuwait Projects (Kipco), told a news conference in Kuwait yesterday. Kipco, which owned around 24 per cent of Wataniya, was appointed last week by the consortium of shareholders to lead negotiations with buyers. Qtel would pay shareholders 4.6 dinars per share, Al Ayyar said. The share closed at 3.1 dinars on Wednesday, the last trading day of the week. Qtel, which is bracing for the end of its monopoly in Qatar this year, was one of three Gulf operators named as potential bidders for the stake put up for sale by a group of Wataniya shareholders. Qtel has been less active on the acquisition trail than other rivals in the world's biggest oil-exporting region. The company operates a subsidiary in Oman and bought a 25 per cent stake in Asia Mobile Holdings, a unit of Singapore Technologies Telemedia, in January. It borrowed $2 billion in November mainly to finance acquisitions. Emirates Telecommunications (etisalat), the second largest Arab telecoms firm by market value, said on Tuesday it had dropped plans for a bid for Wataniya. The other potential buyer was Dubai-based Oger Telecom, owned by conglomerate Saudi Oger. It said on Wednesday it was not in talks on the stake but declined to say whether it would consider a bid. Qatar ends Qtel monopoly (From The Gulf News, November 10, 2006) Doha - Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, has issued a decree that ends Qatar Telecommunication Corp's (Qtel) monopoly over the country's telecom sector and paves the way for competition among new providers, local papers reported here yesterday. Under the new Law No 34/2006 issued on Monday, the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (Ict-Qatar) will be responsible for adopting and implementing a comprehensive regulatory framework for the sector. The decree, which was published entirely on local papers, said IctQatar will issue, amend, cancel and renew licenses to new telecommunication providers. The decree will come into effect from the date of publishing in the official gazette, and abrogates Law No 21 of 1998, under which Qatar Telecommunication Corporation (Qtel) was the sole telecom provider. However, the decree states that Qtel will continue to provide telecommunication services until new providers come forward. Commenting on the decision, Qatar's leading Arabic newspaper Al Sharq said in its editorial yesterday that the law will pave the way for other companies to enter the sector and benefit customers. "This law would promote further economic development in Qatar ... In other countries the opening of the telecom sector has led to an improvement of services and a reduction in tariffs for the benefit of customers," said the paper. Qtel offers ‘Toll Free’ calling facilities (From The Peninsula, April 30, 2006) DOHA - Corporations, small and medium business enterprises will now be able to offer Toll Free calling facilities to their customers with Qatar Telecom (Qtel) opening the service for the corporate sector. Special, Easy-To-Remember (ETR) numbers have also been offered to such subscribers by the company. Toll Free service is a value added service where Qtel will not bill the calling party for the call, but the company or individual who owns the number will be billed and pay all charges. The owner of the Toll Free number will benefit from having a single Easy To Remember number, as well as making potential cost savings on advertising and promotions. Usually, Toll Free numbers are used by the service industry such as hotels, airlines, car rental firms, travel agencies and information providers for callers from abroad. In Qatar itself, a local call is not charged unless made to or from a mobile line. "With this Toll Free number service, Qtel has enhanced its role as the region's best Managed Service Provider (MSP) with a comprehensive service offering which helps promote business development in Qatar. This revenue-enhancing and cost-saving service asserts Qtel's commitment towards fulfilling and servicing the needs of our business customers," said Khalil Al Emadi, Executive Director, Wireline Services, Qtel. Numbers are classified into service type, with Easy To Remember numbers such as double numbers or a repeated set of numbers (800 9911, 800 0000) which are in great demand. 'Royal' numbers end in names or are sequential, 'Gold' numbers consist of 2 similar digits, while 'Silver' numbers are those that are not categorized in Royal or Gold tier. "Allowing companies to pay for the customers' call, will give businesses a huge advantage over competitors who do not have Toll Free numbers," said Khalil Al Emadi. Qatar's QTel to invest $400m a year in technology ahead of Asian Games (April 21, 2006) Doha (Reuters) - Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is investing heavily to upgrade its infrastructure ahead of the 2006 Asian Games and expects a boost in annual profits after a dip last year, the company's chief executive said. Nassir Marafih said the company is investing $400 million a year to introduce new technology, including 3G and video streaming, ahead of the Games which Qatar is hosting in December. He also said high-tech services were becoming a main source of revenue for Qtel as more foreign firms and expatriates relocate to Qatar to take advantage of its booming economy. "We are building the network because of the big demand," he said. "The Asian Games was an opportunity to speed this up and showcase Qtel. But the services will be needed after the Games." Marafih said the company is pushing forward with a plan to outsource revenue-draining activities and focus on providing new technology to corporations moving to Qatar. Revenues from corporate consumers, he said, grew 25 per cent in 2005. Qatar, an Opec member with the world's third largest gas reserves, has one of the world's fastest growing economies and is luring an estimated 120,000 expatriates a year. Qtel announced an agreement with AT&T in January to increase its access to international telecom networks, which Qtel said would allow companies headquartered in Doha to communicate more easily with branches around the world. "We want to focus on the corporate sector which is a growing part of the economy because of all the multinational companies coming in," Marafih said. He said the company would launch 3G services by the second quarter of 2006 and was also planning to launch voice and video streaming ahead of the Asian Games. Marafih said Qtel would post profit growth in 2006 after the company’s net profit declined 20 per cent last year to 1.19 billion riyals ($326.8 million). Qtel announced a first quarter profit of 419 million riyals on Wednesday, up 47 percent from the same period last year. "We expect this year that our profit will pick up and will grow from last year," he said. "We are seeing growth in the market." Marafih said the company was targeting 95 percent penetration rate in 2006 after reaching 85 percent at the end of 2005, driven mainly by broadband and wireless as revenues from basic voice services shrink. The company blamed the decline in 2005 net profit on royalty payments to the government, instituted last year in exchange for the company’s monopoly status. Marafih said the company is lobbying for the fee, currently 25 per cent of net profits, to be abolished or reduced. He also said the company was seeking expansion opportunities outside the region and expected the firm’s Nawras mobile service in Oman to post its first profit in 2007. "We are growing very fast in Oman and captured a 20 percent market share in our first year," Marafih said. "Our first positive (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) will be in 2006 and our first profit will be in 2007." Qtel, which is bidding for Egypt’s third mobile license and has expressed interest in a potential third mobile license in Saudi Arabia, is also eyeing the Arab and Islamic world for acquisitions. "We look at both Greenfield and existing operations," Merafih said. "Our focus is on mobile but we are integrated...we look across the board." RESULTS First-quarter revenue up 46.5% In the three months to March 31, QTel earned revenues of Dh951 million (2005 Dh649 million), an increase of 46.5 per cent over the corresponding period last year, and an EBITDA of Dh590 million (2005 Dh379 million), an increase of 55.7 per cent. The group said it also grew its mobile customer base by 96.4 per cent over the corresponding period from 548,800 subscribers to 1.07 million. The group, on a consolidated basis achieved net profit (before royalty) of Dh548 million (2005 Dh349 million), an impressive growth of 57 per cent. Taking into account the royalty payable to the government, the net profit attributable to Qtel's shareholders is Dh419 million a significant increase of 47 per cent (2005 Dh285 million). Qatar Telecom, Naeem to bid for Egypt mobile tender (April 13, 2006) CAIRO (Dow Jones) - Qatar Telecom, or Qtel, has teamed up with Egyptian Naeem Holding Co. to bid for Egypt's third mobile network license, Al Alam Al Youm newspaper reported Thursday. The privately-owned business daily said vice chairman of the board of Qtel Mohamed Bin Sohaim Al-Thani had signed a deal with Ahmed Naeem, board member of Naeem Holding. This comes after Qtel signed up with Singapore Technologies Telemedia for the bid last week. ST Telemedia, a unit of Singapore's state-owned investment company Temasek Holdings Pte. Ltd., formed a joint venture with Qtel that will be majority owned by the Qatar company. Naeem Holding Co. operates in Egypt, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in the field of direct investment, funding and securities. Qtel will continue to hold a majority stake in the partnership after the new deal. The paper also reported that state-owned Banque Misr, Egypt's second largest bank, had teamed up with Turkey's Turkcell for the bid. Another state-owned bank, The National Bank of Egypt, had entered into an alliance with Emirates Telecommunications Corp., or Etisalat, a few days ago for the same purpose, reported the paper. Egypt is currently receiving offers for its third mobile license bid, which ends May 4. Offers from international companies who have local partners and firms willing to trade a portion of the shares on the Cairo and Alexandria Stock Exchange after two years of operation will be favored, according to the terms. Egypt currently has two mobile operators - Vodafone Egypt Telecommunications and Egyptian Company for Mobile Services, or MobiNil. Vodafone Group PLC owns 50% of Vodafone Egypt while MobiNil's shareholders include Egypt's Orascom Telecom Holding and Orange, which is a unit of France Telecom. An estimated 19 companies and consortia are vying for Egypt's third mobile telephone license. Qtel set to enter Egypt market (From The Peninsula, March 26, 2006) Doha - Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) is set to enter the Egyptian mobile phone services market, following its successful venture in the Sultanate of Oman. This was revealed by Dr Nasser Marafih, Qtel Chief Executive Officer pointing out that Nawras, its subsidiary in Oman has signed up 300,000 new customers, which represent 20 per cent of the Omani mobile market during its first year of service. Qtel is currently exploring several investment opportunities in the region as part of its expansion plan, Dr Marafih told reporters on the sidelines of a function held in honor of the company's outstanding customer service employees. Answering to a query on Qatarization of jobs in the company, Dr Marafih said Qtel was sponsoring a number of students and graduates from the College of North Atlantic and is also conducting training courses for national workforce within the company's departments that have led to an increase in the number of Qatari employed at Qtel. Qatar: Qtel expands coverage to remote areas (From Mena Report, December 12, 2005) - Qtel has announced the launch of state-of-the-art Remote Locations services (Wireless Local Loop) that uses Broadband Point-to-Multipoint Radio technology to provide nationwide telephone and Internet services to customers who reside outside Qtel's wired network. Qtel customers living outside Doha with no wired network coverage like remote residential areas, farms, chalets and even companies' site offices can now avail fixed line and Internet services on one connection. Remote Locations services will allow customers to use the connection simultaneously for both normal fixed lines and Broadband services. "The Remote Locations services is in line with Qtel's motto of 'Bringing you closer' and its 'Qatar, the Broadband Country' campaign. This technology ensures that Qtel's network spreads across the entire nation, even to the most remote regions in Qatar," said Dr Nasser Marafih, CEO of Qtel. With Remote Locations services, customers have access to fixed telephony and Internet services that offer superior quality and reliability similar to Qtel's wired network. It also provides all telephony value-added services including Caller ID, Call Forwarding and Call Barring. The Broadband Internet services offered through Remote Locations services is similar to barQ, the high speed Internet access that is up to 10 times faster than existing Internet dial-up connections. It has the ability to provide Internet speeds of 512Kb/s and 1 Mb/s. "As Qtel works toward ensuring the availability of advanced telecommunication services for the Asian Games, we first believe in the right of all Qatari residents to have access to services offered by Qtel, irrespective of their location, and this assures that we meet the needs of people living in remote areas," continued Dr Nasser Marafih. MMS available in Qatar (From menareport.com, November 24, 2005) - Qtel has announced that Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) will now be available to its entire Postpaid and Prepaid customer base, starting November 24, 2005. MMS was previously available as part of a promotion only to Postpaid customers for a monthly subscription fee of QR20. Now, it is conveniently priced per message to enable all Postpaid and Prepaid mobile customers to send and receive pictures, video and audio files. "And as MMS gets more functional and accessible, it will pave the way for a broader customer experience that will soon include advanced 3G multimedia services,¡¨ said Fahad Bin Jassim Al-Thani, Executive Director for Wireless Services. Any mobile user with an MMS compatible handset can send pictures at QR0.90 or video clips at QR1.20 respectively for local messaging. Customers can also send pictures internationally to Bahrain (Batelco), Kuwait (Wataniya) and Jordan (MobileCom) at QR1.35 or video clips at QR1.80. MMS can be activated at Qtel's MMS kiosk at the City Center Doha for a period of two weeks starting November 24th to December 8th 2005; and at any of the MMS authorized dealers in Qatar or the nearest Qtel customer service center. All MMS authorized handset dealers in Qatar have been specifically trained and are certified by Qtel to support Qtel's MMS service. Customers will be able to identify the certified stores by a large sticker stating "MMS Authorized Dealer". Postpaid and Prepaid customers who have not yet activated the MMS service or do not have an MMS configured handset, will receive an SMS informing them how to view MMS messages they receive on the Qtel website. "Qtel intends to configure customer handsets remotely by sending them the appropriate settings through an SMS,¡¨ said Fahad Bin Jassim Al-Thani. "In some rare cases, however, the handset will need to be manually configured. This can be done either by the customers themselves using the information on the Qtel website or by visiting an MMS authorized handset dealer." Qatar Telecom joins Falcon cable network (From The Gulf News, April 21, 2005) Dubai - Qatar Telecom, the country's main telecom provider, has signed an agreement to participate in a submarine cable system called Falcon, company officials said. "Our agreement with Flag Telecom, the submarine cable providers for Falcon, highlights our commitment to our customers. Falcon will provide us with a major boost and strengthen our data, internet and telephone services," said Dr Nasser Marafih, Qatar Telecom's (Qtel) chief executive. Under the agreement, Qatar will have connectivity to Falcon. This loop cable system will provide multiple landings throughout the Gulf region, with submarine links stretching from the Middle East to Egypt in the west and to India in the east. The landing site in Qatar for Falcon will be in Semaisma, near Al Khor. According to the agreement between Qtel and FLAG Telecom, Qtel's multi-million dollar investment will provide it access to the system for a period of 15 years. "We hope Falcon will help Qatar develop into one of the most connected broadband communities in the region. This is particularly important for Qatar as we gear up ahead of the technological demands we anticipate from the Doha Asian Games in 2006," Dr Marafih said. Falcon will be interconnected with other global submarine networks. Interconnection with Flag Europe-Asia at the Suez landing will provide regional operators with seamless connectivity to destinations on the Flag global network, including locations in Europe, the United States, Asia (Hong Kong, Tokyo, South Korea, Taiwan) and the Middle East, company representatives said. "We are happy to be partnering with Qtel to provide a backbone to deliver advanced broadband services to Qatar," said Walid Irshad, Flag Telecom's president for Middle East and Africa. "Falcon will incorporate comprehensive protection mechanisms to ensure the highest level of network reliability for telecommunications users in Qatar," he said. The Falcon network is being built and installed simultaneously at various points, using several submarine cable-laying ships. Initial service for Qatar will commence by the first quarter of 2006, with full connectivity by June 2006. Qtel to invest 800m riyals in wireless network (From Gulf News, March 23, 2005) Doha - Qtel will spend 800 million riyals on its wireless network to attract more customers, a company report said. In the next two years, Qatar Telecommunication Company, Qtel, aims to achieve 100 per cent penetration rate in the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) segment. Mobile penetration in Qatar on December 31 was 65 per cent, with 490,000 subscribers in a population of about 750,000. The company aims to increase the number of customers, which grew 40 per cent last year over 2003. Qtel hopes to achieve this goal by pumping an additional 800 million riyals (Dh808.40 million) into its wireless network, the report said. 3G service The company is working on commissioning the Third Generation (3G) network by the end of this year offering several multimedia services. One advantage of 3G is that subscribers equipped with compatible handsets will be able to view one another during the phone conversation. Speaking at a recent conference here, Nasser Marafia, chief executive officer of Qtel, said the company is striving to ensure that its telecommunications infrastructure is in place before the Doha Asian Games are held next year. "We are fully geared up for the communication needs of the Games." Qtel achieves a world first (From The Peninsula, December 7, 2004) DOHA - Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has earned the unique distinction of becoming the world's first telecommunication services provider to implement a state-of-the-art billing system that will offer customers, a comprehensive bill for four of its services while allowing the company to offer discounts on different service packages. The new Revenue Management System was installed by the US-based firm, Convergys and integrates billing for four Qtel services: wire-line, mobile phones, Internet and Qatar Cable Vision. Speaking to the media yesterday, Dr Nasser M Marafih, Chief Executive Officer, Qtel, said, the new system will enable the company to offer discounts and special offers on subscribers who opt for more services. It will also allow customers to check their outstanding dues through the Qtel portal on the Internet and settle bills online, during the Phase-I of the project, which was launched yesterday. Under Phase-II, which is expected to commence in about six weeks, customers will also be able to view their unbilled calls online and pay for them. Some 200 personnel from Qtel and Convergys combined worked for a period of nearly two years on the QR 80mn project, he added. Qtel studied a variety of billing systems worldwide before settling for the one offered by Convergys, since it was found to best suit the company's requirements, he added. According to Jean Herve Jenn, president, Europe, Middle East and Africa at Convergys, the only other system that comes close to the one owned by Qtel is that of Cox, a company in the US which offers three services, land-lines, Internet and cable TV. He pointed out that Qtel's project was the first ever undertaken by his firm in the Middle East region and hence was an important one since it would open doors to other avenues in the GCC for Convergys. " This convergent solution delivered to Qtel represents the future of telecom." He noted that the system implemented by Qtel would enable the company to provide more advanced services in future. Study: Qtel may lose monopoly by 2006 (August 15, 2004) (MENAFN) - An industry study indicated that Qatari Telecom giant Qtel may lose its monopoly in the domestic market by 2006 with a second mobile phone operator likely to be awarded the license to operate, the Peninsula newspaper reported. The study noted that the regional telecom sector was expected to witness sweeping changes, adding that the changes are going to take place mainly in the regulatory aspects. Over the past three years, countries such as Bahrain, Oman, Saudi Arabia and UAE have set up autonomous telecom regulatory authorities, while their neighbors are in the process of following suit. The least penetrated market for global system for mobile (GSM) in the region is Oman, which has a GSM spread of 25 percent, while UAE has the highest penetration level of 80 percent. The percentage for Qatar is 58, whereas the figures as regards its immediate neighbors Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are 65 percent and 31 percent, respectively. Kuwait has the second highest penetration level at 71 percent. Qtel to deploy ADC's Metrica for GSM network in Qatar (August 10, 2004) MINNEAPOLIS (BUSINESS WIRE) - ADC announced today that Qtel will deploy ADC's Metrica® Performance Manager to monitor their network performance and the quality of services delivered to all of Qtel's mobile subscribers throughout Qatar. ADC has won the contract with Qtel via its partner in the region, Mannai Trading. "In line with our Qturn transformation program, our priority is to provide superior customer service and the latest products and services demanded by the rapidly growing Qatari economy," said Dr. Nasser Marafih, CEO for Qtel. "We believe that ADC's world-class products combined with Mannai Trading's local experience will help us to achieve these goals to the benefit of everyone in Qatar." By deploying Metrica, Qtel will have a comprehensive view of both the quality of their network and the services being delivered on it. This will enable Qtel to detect potential problems and resolve them to ensure the highest levels of customer service. "Qtel represents a significant win for Metrica," said David Heaps, senior vice president and general manager of the Metrica group, Software Systems Business Unit for ADC. "Qatar continues to experience phenomenal growth in telecommunications and we look forward to working with Qtel and our partner, Mannai Trading, to address the increasing number of opportunities in the region." In addition to performance management solutions, ADC also offers Metrica Service Manager, a Service Quality Management (SQM) solution that manages end-to-end service quality in real-time and provides historical analysis against customer-focused quality objectives for both existing and emergent services. Qtel reports strong performance (From menareport.com, July 25, 2004) - Qtel announced Saturday its six months financial results to 30 June 2004. Announcing the figures, Qtel’s Chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani said, “In the first six months of the year Qtel achieved another strong performance with revenues rising by 18 percent to QR 1,149m and net profit increasing by 29 percent to QR 749m over the corresponding period last year. The results were achieved by growth in both the Wireless and Wireline Business Units coupled with gains from the disposal of certain locally held investments.” “To reflect this strong performance, we will be distributing an interim dividend payment of QR. 3.65 per share. This equates to 36.5 percent of the nominal value, an 11 percent increase from last year,” he continued. Revenue for the six months to June 2004 increased by 18 percent, a QR 177m increase to QR 1,149m over the corresponding period last year. Qtel’s Wireless services continued to perform well with overall revenue increasing by 25 percent to QR 672m (June 2003-QR539m). The GSM subscriber base experienced a 28 percent growth to 419,000 (June 2003- 328,000). Qtel’s Prepaid GSM subscriber base experienced particular growth with a 51% increase over the 12 month period, a net increase of 94,000 subscribers. Wireline services also performed well with a 14 percent growth in overall revenue to QR 441m (June 2003-QR387m). This was driven by Internet and leased circuits. In particular, dial-up Internet expanded its subscriber base by 40 percent over the 12 month period from June 2003, and barQ ADSL nearly quadrupled its subscriber base, growing by 379 percent. Operating profit for the six months to June 2004 grew from QR 575m to QR 677m, an increase of 18 percent. Expenses for the six months period January to June rose from QR 398m in 2003 to QR 472m in 2004, an increase of 19%. This reflects predominantly the company’s increased business and promotional activities. Qtel’s other income for the six months was QR 72m up from QR 24m in the same period of 2003. This was primarily due to sale of certain locally held investments during the period. Net profit for the first six months of 2004 grew to QR 749m, a net increase of 29 percent over the corresponding period in the previous year. Earnings per share for the six month period grew to QR 7.49 per share in 2004 compared to QR. 5.80 per share in 2003. Qtel becomes 1st telecom company in the region to launch IP-VPN system (June 30, 2004) (MENAFN) - Qatar Telecom (Qtel) has become the first telecommunications company in the GCC region to offer the Multi-Protocol Label Switching-based Internet Protocol- Virtual Private Network (IP-VPN), the Peninsula newspaper reported. The system allows the corporate sector to connect to remote locations and branch offices with extreme flexibility and reliability at minimal costs and high security. The new generation networking solution will transfer the critical business information and date of companies using the system with an extremely high security level while securing company databases and networks from outside intrusion, ensuring absolute confidentiality during data transfer. Qtel, Nokia distributor sign agreement to promote MMS (From The Peninsula, June 14, 2004) DOHA - Qatar Telecom (Qtel) yesterday signed an agreement with the Consolidated Gulf Co (CGC), the sole distributors in the country for Nokia brand of mobile phone handsets, for conducting a public awareness campaign about the Multimedia Messaging System (MMS) service, according to a press release issued yesterday. Qtel plans to announce its much-awaited multimedia messaging services today. Under the agreement, CGC- Nokia will set up a stand at City Center, Doha, to disseminate information related to MMS services to mobile phone users. Qtel, through this stand, will distribute information booklets and other material to educate mobile phone users about multimedia messaging. CGC staff will also assist Qtel's customers to tune their mobile phone handsets to enable them to send and receive multimedia messages. Sheikh Fahad bin Jassim Al Thani, senior manager, wireless services, Qtel, called upon mobile phone users in the country to visit the stand to learn more about the services and have their handsets set avail of the service. Munthir Khalid, general manager, CGC, revealed that the awareness drive will be conducted by his company at the City Center for a period of one month. Visitors to the stand will also be given souvenirs. SMS service on Qatar Airways flights soon (From The Peninsula, April 22, 2004) DOHA - Passengers on Qatar Airways flights will soon be able to receive the SMS service on their mobile phones. The airline's Chief Executive Officer, Akbar Al Baker, hinted at this at a press conference yesterday to announce a couple of main sponsors for the forthcoming Fourth Global Travel and Tourism Summit. He said very soon, Qatar Airways customers would have the in-flight facility of receiving text messages on their screens, but added that the details of the service would be announced later. Akbar also said the airline was looking at equipping its aircraft with transponders to relay direct telecasts of selected television channels. One major TV channel had approached the airline with such an offer but was turned down, "because we don't want anyone to monopolize any service on Qatar Airways." Live telecasts would be shown on the airline's flights, but of channels of its choosing, in tune with its customers' tastes. "Aircraft manufacturers are now looking at fitting their planes with the signal receivers and we're interested," he said. Wireless services give huge boost to Qtel profits (The Peninsula, April 22, 2004) DOHA - Qatar Telecom's wireless and wire-line services continued to be the leading revenue earners for the company during the recently concluded first quarter of this year, according to results announced yesterday. Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammad bin Saud Al Thani, Qtel Chairman, announcing the Q1 results for 2004 said: "In the first quarter, Qtel achieved strong results with revenue growth up by 20 per cent and the net profit recording an increase of 26 per cent over the corresponding period last year. The performance was boosted by wireless and wire-line services growth and reflects the successful introduction of new products and value added services, coupled with a series of new customer promotions and continuous commitment to improve services, which are central to our Qturn transformation program." The first quarter revenues increased by QR95m to stand at a total of QR565m: an increase of 20 per cent over the same period in 2003, when profits of QR470m were recorded. The wireless service continued to spur the revenue growth with the Qatarnet Global System for Mobile (GSM) witnessing an increase of some 40 per cent from January 1 to March 31. As a result, Qtel now has more than 400,000 subscribers connected to the Qatarnet. The service accounted for a 29 per cent increase in wireless services in Q1 compared to the same period last year. The number of customers using the Hala pre-paid GSM service shot up by 64 per cent from March last year to March 2004 - a net increase of 100,000 new mobile phone connections. The number of post-paid subscribers increased during the year by 140,000. At the end of March 2003, Qtel had connected 128,221 new post-paid subscribers during that year. The wire-line services of Qtel also experienced growth with Q1 revenues up by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year, generating a revenue of QR 216mn. The Internet dial-up service subscriber base grew by 40 per cent from March 2003 to March 31 this year, to stand at 27,693 while the Asynchronized Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) Internet service, titled barQ, crossed the 4,000 subscriber mark during the year. According to figures disclosed by Qtel, the net profit for the first quarter of 2004 grew to QR399m, reflecting an increase of 26 per cent over the same period last year, when it stood at QR268m. The operating profit for the first quarter grew from QR268m in 2003 to a new high of QR329m this year. Expenses for the Q1 increased by 17 per cent to stand at QR236m while income from other sources was QR10m as compared to QR9m for the same period last year. Earnings per share for the period grew to QR 3.39 per share compared to QR 2.68 at the end of March 2003, the results state. Qtel's revenues up 18% in 2003 (March 8, 2004) (MENAFN) - Qatar Telecom's (Qtel) revenues grew by 18 percent in to reach QR2.026 billion ($560 million) in 2003, compared with QR1.720 billion ($470 million) a year earlier, the Peninsula newspaper reported. Qtel's net profits stood at QR1.149 billion ($320 million) last year, an increase of 20 percent over the previous year. The company's capital investments rose 45 percent to QR375 million ($103 million), compared with QR259 million ($71.1 million) in 2002, funding developments such as the expansion of our Global System for Mobile network and introduction of the Global Packet Radio Service and Asynchronised Digital Subscriber Line Internet access. Qtel revenues soar by 18pc to QR2b in 2003 (From Khaleej Times, February 12, 2004) DUBAI - Qtel announced yesterday that its top line revenue grew by 18 per cent from QR1.72 billion in 2002 to QR2.02 billion in 2003, while net profit amounted to QR 1.1 billion for the year ended December 31, 2003, recording an increase of 20 per cent over the previous year. Announcing the results, Qtel's chairman, Shaikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani said that this was largely driven by an exceptional performance in Wireless and Wireline, coupled with the introduction of new products, service improvements, customer promotions and improvements in operating efficiency. Capital investment rose by 45 per cent to QR375 million during 2003, funding developments such as the expansion of Qtel's Wireless network and the introduction of advanced technologies. Last year saw outstanding growth in wireless services with a 35 per cent growth in overall revenue. Specifically, Qtel's Wireless postpaid service grew by 17 per cent over the year from QR558 million to QR655 million, while prepaid rose by 87 per cent from QR243 million to QR455 million. Wireline service