Open for competition

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Maher is keen to reach a network sharing agreement with Qtel.

With the arrival of Vodafone, the last telecom monopoly in the Gulf has opened its doors to competition. The CEOs of both of Qatar's operators told CommsMEA about their plans for developing the sector.

Qatar's move from telecom monopoly to duopoly has been a protracted affair. From the license process that began in 2007, through to eventual winner Vodafone Qatar providing many updates on the stages of its launch, from the initial rollout to the testing of the network in March, to the  full launch at the end of June.

Dr Nasser Marafih, CEO of incumbent operator Qtel, says that his company has been planning for competition for more than five years, and he feels that so far everything has gone according to plan. He highlights the "milestone" of two million mobile customers, which Qtel reached in July, as an example of the operator's readiness for the challenges posed by Vodafone Qatar.

"Our primary strategy continues to focus proactively on providing our customers with consistent choice, greater value, highest service quality, and services that really meet their needs and exceed their expectations," Marafih says.

Network vendor Ericsson is helping Qtel to "strengthen its value proposition" in the face of competition from Vodafone. In particular, Ericsson's country manager for Qatar, Christer Bergmark, says the vendor is deploying solutions that will allow Qtel to offer "more innovative services and tariff plans" for pre-paid users, including services that will ensure the correct phone settings are automatically distributed to Qtel customers.

Grahame Maher, CEO of the country's new network Vodafone Qatar, says that the phased approach to the launch was part of the operator's launch strategy, and that it helped the network to adjust to the customers' needs.

"There is a lot more that will come in those plans, it's a staged approach in an attempt to build over time," he says of Vodafone Qatar's mobile tariffs.

Motorola's account director and Qatar country manager, Mouhammed Madhoun, says that with Vodafone's arrival, Qtel is now concentrating its efforts on trying to retain its market share. "I think the focus today from Qtel's perspective is that they are trying to give the best service possible in order to maintain those subscribers."

At Vodafone Qatar's annual general meeting the operator set a target of 10,000 customers by the time it listed on the Doha exchange. Vodafone Qatar listed at the end of last month, and when CommsMEA spoke with Maher last month he said he was confident the target would be met.

Economic perspective

Maher says that from a macro economic perspective and in comparison to other Gulf states Qatar is "looking reasonably good", although he says that there has been a slowing in some of the country's many construction projects.

Qtel's Marafih agrees that Qatar as a nation has had limited exposure to the global economic downturn that has affected other Gulf states, and he says that as a result Qtel has not suffered. "In fact, we have seen an increase in subscriber numbers and positive EBITDA throughout the group," he says."The telecommunications sector continues to demonstrate buoyancy in comparison to other industries despite challenging economic times."

Fixed line represents a lucrative sector of the market for telecom operators, with contracts for new developments a vital source of revenue. Vodafone was awarded a fixed line licence, but Maher says the details are still being finalised before final acceptance of the licence. "The bidding process that we put together was ourselves and Qatar DR, the government developer. We haven't yet been awarded the final details from ICT Qatar, and we are still putting everything in place around shareholdings to proceed with that," he says. Maher says that if a decision isn't made in the near term, it will most likely happen after the summer months.

Motorola's Madhoun says there are "a decent amount of DSL users" in Qatar, but he says the country would benefit from greater coverage and better service.

But Marafih points to figures compiled by research house Arthur D. Little, that he says show that Qatar's broadband penetration exceeded more than 50% of households in 2009, which he says is an indication of the success of Qtel's drive to increase penetration. In May this year, Qtel doubled the speed for all ADSL and Mozaic TV+ customers.

From the comments of both CEOs, it looks likely that data packages could be an area where both go head-to-head. Vodafone's tariffs were criticised by Qataris posting in online forum Qatar Living for being too similar to Qtel's, but Maher is adamant that the operator's data tariffs will not disappoint.

The tariffs are due to be launched in August, and it is expected that there will be two types of plans, with one for people using mobile internet on their terminal, and one for heavy duty broadband users of modems and people using data at high volumes, according to Maher.

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