Competition in Qatar Telecom Market

ict QATAR
By ict QATAR

With competition approaching to the Qatar telecom market as Vodafone soon launches its services, will this bring more benefits to consumers? What rights and obligations do telecom operators and consumers have? What does “consumer protection” and “fair trading” stands for? Are they only buzz terms that will remain so abstract? ictQATAR, the Regulatory Authority in Qatar has a say in this, in a feature it recently published in its latest January newsletter.

Click here to read the full feature: http://www.ict.gov.qa/output/NewsPage.aspx?PageID=943

By stealth• 13 Oct 2009 21:01
stealth

one as in 1?

By anonymous• 13 Oct 2009 20:41
anonymous

Ok you have just one the prize for least relevant reply to a thread ever...

By anonymous• 4 Oct 2009 22:37
anonymous

Vodafone is just the name not the service. The company is owned in the majority by QF and Qatari pension funds. Competition would be nice but can you see two government companies trying to slit each others throats? I don't see it.

How interested do you think Vodafone is in the Qatar market in a company it has a minority stake in, when in a place like India which has 100s of millions of potential subscribers and can have full ownership.....

By restore22• 15 Jan 2009 14:14
restore22

There will be a positive side for this competition to exist, and it is not instantly for sure but eventually. The first benefit that we will get maybe not in the monetary term such as low rate etc but having an options instead. Eventhough the rate is the same (or higher even) is offered by Voda as compare to QTel, but if the Quality and ability to satisfy is more, then I'll be willing to switch no doubt about that. And soon the same will be for QTel to react.

By beximus• 15 Jan 2009 13:59
Rating: 4/5
beximus

It is to inform all that vodafone plans to launch in march but the launch will be limited and not commercial launch till the end of the yer so he talk of who is cheaper can wait till th commercial launch.

The network building work is in progress and the results will be for every one to see at the end of the year.

Life is too short to think about the uneditable past and plan about the unpredictable future!!!!!

So take a chill pill

Relax, enjoy and savour the moment till u can and it lasts.

By ict QATAR• 11 Jan 2009 09:10
ict QATAR

Dear Ngourlay,

Thanks for your inquiry. Please refer to our website, and contact the Regulatory Authority to obtain an answer. You canfollow this link: http://www.ict.gov.qa/output/page277.asp

Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR)

http://www.ictqatar.qa

By Scarlett• 9 Jan 2009 15:00
Scarlett

Grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked,the good fortune to run into the ones I do,and the eyesight to tell the difference.

By fubar• 9 Jan 2009 14:55
fubar

How can you be an Arab national holding an American passport?

Wouldn't that make you an American National?

Qatarisation means giving preferential employment to those who hold a Qatari passport. Having an Arab passport isn't the same thing.

By yaseen13• 9 Jan 2009 00:42
yaseen13

Hi beximus

I have a degree in communication engineering and interested in working in Qatar.

I am an Arab national holding American passport.

Any advices?

By anonymous• 8 Jan 2009 18:04
Rating: 3/5
anonymous

Anyway

Aviduser on the 7th Jan 2009 said this

"Now with the Qatar Foundation and Vodaphone combined they will probably hire a thousand locals on very high wages to do pretty much nothing. "

One day later the peninsular prints this:

Vodafone eyes Qatari recruits

Web posted at: 1/8/2009 3:54:53

Source ::: THE PENINSULA/ BY JOYCE C ABAÑO

DOHA: Vodafone Qatar’s CEO has said the company is actively recruiting Qataris to fill some senior positions before the launch of its services on March 1.

The company also made its first call in public using the new mobile phone network in a demonstration for the local media yesterday.

“We are actively recruiting Qataris for senior roles now because some of our people will have to go back to their own positions in Vodafone offices worldwide,” said Grahame Maher, CEO of Vodafone Qatar.

“There are around 100 people in our staff right now, including some Qataris. We have Qataris in the business and regulatory area, the legal area, the human resources department and marketing, among others,” said Maher.

Maher said some Qatari lawyers will soon be joining the company as well as an engineer from the government’s higher institution for communication.

For the first time in public, Vodafone Qatar made several calls on its new mobile phone network in a demonstration for the local media. The first call was made on December 24, 2008, and testing and trials are going on.

The call demonstration showed the Vodafone number series, starting with the number seven.

Vodafone Qatar is the holder of the second public mobile telecommunications licence in Qatar, granted on June 29, 2008.

TOLD YOU !!!!!!!

How many Qatari's in Senior positions do you think ZAIN or AT&T would have hired ?

By fubar• 8 Jan 2009 12:10
fubar

I live on a street full of drug dealers, mostly Pakistanis selling suwakah. The police drop by quite frequently, but only to buy the drugs for themselves. Occassionally they also tell the other people who buy the drugs through the car window to speed up their transactions so that the traffic doesn't get blocked for too long.

And yet you expect me to believe that a communications watchdog will regulate the activities of two commercial telecommunications providers...

By ngourlay• 8 Jan 2009 10:25
ngourlay

it looks like someone from ictQatar replied to my questions, but then had second thoughts.

did anyone see what they wrote?

By tallg• 7 Jan 2009 22:44
Rating: 3/5
tallg

At first I was going to pipe up and say that Vodafone aren't providing internet, but I guess they are since people can browse from their mobiles. So they'll have to put filters in place for that. Interesting.

By ngourlay• 7 Jan 2009 19:51
ngourlay

Since some one from ictQatar is on here. Where are the guidelines for censoring the Internet? What advice has been given to Vodafone about how to censor, and how does ictQatar ensure that there is a consistency to censorship decisions? How does ictQatar square previous decisions to censor discussions on QatarLiving with the constitutional guarantees of freedom of expression?

By MinaNagy• 7 Jan 2009 19:14
MinaNagy

Hey Guys,

Did anyone read that article they are linking to? I read it and I think there are some good positive points in it. what do you think?

By anonymous• 7 Jan 2009 17:48
anonymous

Better get a move on I can't see too many cell towers being constructed right now.

The boss of Vodaphone himself said they were renting bandwidth from Qtel.

ICT rigged the process to make sure Vodaphone won the contract, after all how many jobs would NOT have been created if AT&T won ?.

AT&T could simply have rented the bandwidth from QTEL and opened a few shops and eventually built up their own cell infrastructure, overall not creating that many well paid jobs and making a fair amount of profit.

Now with the Qatar Foundation and Vodaphone combined they will probably hire a thousand locals on very high wages to do pretty much nothing.

The country keeps having to create companies to employ the burgeoning local populace, why do you think there are so many Gas and Oil companies ?. They all drill in Qatar and all produce the same product, it means that you can employ thousands of people in non jobs preferably middle management.

This keeps everyone happy and allows Qatar to give the illusion that everyone can live the dream.

By fubar• 7 Jan 2009 16:34
Rating: 5/5
fubar

At the end of the day, both Vodafone and QTel remain majority owned by the Qatari government. Whether it's direct or indirect control, most consumers feel that this means that there will be no 'real' competition.

Since moving to this country I have learnt a few things.

1 - Competition does not often yield competitiveness. The banks here are more or less the same (with the exception of HSBC, which strives to provide the worst services in all sectors). Just because there is more than 1 bank doesn't mean that banks are fighting competitively for marketshare. Similarly, we have all come to accept that all real estate agents will rip you off - again, competition hasn't resulted in different companies undercutting one another and offering better services. They are all more or less equally bad. (Most supermarkets are equally bad... most hotels offer the same types of services... and so on).

2 - Why read the fine print? As mentioned on another forum, banks have been increasing the interest charged on fixed rate loans, and changing the credit limit on consumer credit cards without consultation. Aside from being unethical, I doubt very much that such behavior could possibly be sanctioned within the term and conditions offered by the banks (but I may well be wrong). Companies here make up the rules as they go along.

3 - Even when companies are in violation of their own internal by-laws (or actual law, for that matter) regulatory bodies have proven themselves to be ineffectual at punishing violators and enforcing the law. Everyone knows that if it is possible to be corrupt, it probably will be. Whether it's overlooking speeding tickets, raising your rent by more than the maximum allowable, breaching employment contract terms, we are always reminded on the one hand of how certain bodies are there to prevent such actions, but then see first hand how toothless they are in enforcing the law.

ICT Qatar will be just like every other body that is supposed to prevent this law being broken, or protect the rights of someone else, but it will only act in this capacity as long as it doesn't ruffle the feathers of someone else more important than 'the consumer'. I have no faith whatsoever in its ability to deliver the level of regulation and oversight that it is promising.

By beximus• 7 Jan 2009 13:16
Rating: 5/5
beximus

I totally disagree with u on that .

i m working in the network planning department of the vendor of vodafone and i can assure you that vodafone definately isnt QTel . qtel is forced to provide support to vodafone as part of the deal with the regulator but vodafone is having 70 percent sites of their own they are sharing just a fraction with Qtel.

Hopefully in march or april u will witness the differnce for your self.

Adios amigos

Life is too short to think about the uneditable past and plan about the unpredictable future!!!!!

So take a chill pill

Relax, enjoy and savour the moment till u can and it lasts.

By anonymous• 7 Jan 2009 13:01
Rating: 5/5
anonymous

Are essentially the same company, Vodaphone will be using Qtels masts and base stations. They have agreed to purchase bandwidth from Qtel.

The only difference will be that Vodaphone will be offering the Iphone.

There would be no point changing companies as Vodaphone Qatar is Qtel with a different name.

By tallg• 7 Jan 2009 07:53
tallg

Expectations are low, because we've come to expect that these things don't exist in Qatar. As baldrick said, until something is actually implemented there's no point getting excited about it.

By baldrick2dogs• 7 Jan 2009 07:46
baldrick2dogs

At the moment it's all just words. Until it's backed up with deeds, consumer protection and fair trading are just pipe dreams in Qatar.

Did you Google it first?

By ict QATAR• 7 Jan 2009 07:41
ict QATAR

But what do you think, everyone, about terms, discussed in the article, such as "consumer protection" and "fair trading"? What are your expectations?

Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR)

http://www.ictqatar.qa

By baldrick2dogs• 7 Jan 2009 07:33
baldrick2dogs

As happened in KSA, I can't wait for everyone else to jump ship so that my current supplier instantaneously improves without lifting a finger!

Did you Google it first?

By newkidontheblock• 7 Jan 2009 07:20
Rating: 5/5
newkidontheblock

Can't wait to switch to vodafone. i haven't tried vodafone but they are famous in other countries with their services.

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