Liberalization of Qatar's telecoms market takes another step forward

The license to operate a second fixed telecommunications network is expected to be awarded in April 2008.

Commenting on the launch of the new process, Dr Hessa Al Jaber, Secretary General of ictQATAR, said "Our goal is to bring to the residents and businesses of Qatar a state of the art network combining the latest technologies and services. We believe this is a very attractive market -- with an expanding population, multiple new residential and business developments and one of the highest per capita incomes in the world".

Last week Qatar announced the awarding of a new mobile license to the Vodafone and Qatar Foundation Consortium. Awardees for both fixed and mobile licenses will compete with the incumbent provider, Qtel.

"We were incredibly happy with the robust response we got from potential operators for this second mobile license," said Dr. Hessa Al Jaber. "Competition for this mobile license from the international community was great and we expect a vigorous competition for the fixed license as well, " she added.

The license will be awarded through a comparative evaluation of the potential operators (also known as a 'beauty contest'). ictQATAR will assess the technical merits of the bids received based on the quality of the network and the range of services proposed by applicants.

Earlier this year, ictQATAR called for expressions of interest from telecommunications operators engaged in fixed line operations.

Five expressions of interest were received from the following parties:
1. Argos Consortium (includes Verizon - USA)
2. Bahrain Telecommunications Company BSC (Batelco-Bahrain)
3. Emirates Telecommunications Corporation (Etisalat-UAE)
4. Eutelia SpA (Italy)
5. QIPCO Consortium (includes PCCW-HKT - Hong Kong)

Additional parties may still register interest at this stage until 7 February 2008.
The license award will be a fixed fee of 10 Million QAR.

The winning licensee will have an opportunity to gain access to substantial new developments in Qatar such as the Pearl and Losail as well as to existing residential and business areas.

The Pearl is a luxury community being developed on a man made island near Doha, containing luxury apartments, hotels, restaurants and retail space. The license will also include authorization to operate an international gateway.

ictQATAR also published today the terms of the Second Fixed Telecommunications License together with a response to an earlier consultation paper on the draft license.