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Qatar Telecommunications Report Q3 2010
Business Monitor International, July 2010, Pages: 78
This Qatar Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, telecommunication associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Qatar's telecommunications industry.
The Q310 update of Qatar Telecommunications report contains new data from the two main operators in the country, as well as details of the latest network developments. The signs are from the early part of 2010 that the growth trajectory indicated by improved growth performance will continue throughout the year. Growth in 2009 was particularly strong because of the introduction of competition to the mobile market. Despite penetration rates topping 150% at the end of the year, subscriber numbers rose 46.9% to reach 2.472mn in 2009, which was stronger than the 33.1% y-o-y increase in 2008. Despite the maturity of the mobile sector, growth has been supported by the entry of a second mobile operator in 2009, Vodafone Qatar.
Although Vodafone Qatar does not provide ARPU figures, Qtel reported continued falling ARPUs, reaching QAR123.2 at the end of Q409, its lowest figure not only for the year but also over the last two years. Mobile broadband has similarly been at the centre of Qtel’s strategy to increase ARPU figures. To encourage adoption of mobile broadband services, the operator together with Nokia in December 2009 launched free mobile internet access for Qtel’s postpaid ‘Shahry’ subscribers. The promotional service offers subscribers with specific Nokia handsets a free monthly data download of up to 1GB until March 31 2010. The service, launched jointly with Nokia’s partner in Qatar, Consolidated Gulf Company, also allows prepaid ‘Hala’ subscribers to convert to postpaid services and avail the promotional offer. In the same month, however, Qtel, introduced a new instant mobile broadband service for its prepaid subscribers in Qatar. The new prepaid service is available in three-day, 10-day and 30-day packages at a price of QAR150 (US$41.2), QAR300 (US$82.4) and QAR500 (US$137.3) respectively.
While the focus on mobile broadband is hoped will encourage further growth of the broadband market (estimated to have attained a penetration rate of 29.8% at the end of 2009), Qtel, as the incumbent operator, has come under fire for having one of the highest broadband tariffs in the world, highest also compared with the region. The operator has defended its prices, claiming they are fair and higher than other regions because of the cost of connecting to the backbone.
The second-ranked operator had a market share of 14.3% at the end of 2009, reporting a total of 354,000 subscribers. Its ability to steal market share away from incumbent operator Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) is the result of favourable promotions and aggressive pricing. Aware that it cannot continue to steal market share from the incumbent only through competitive price plans, Vodafone Qatar has been involved in developing non-voice services of mobile broadband to compete against Qtel.
During 2010, Vodafone Qatar has promised to launch internet-enabled low-cost handsets, as low as US$20 during the year, so as to encourage uptake from lower income segments. The operator has also launched BlackBerry handsets in early 2010 to attract the corporate sector. By increasing the range of smartphones available to the market, the operator is hopeful that greater data usage will occur over its networks, thereby also helping to boost ARPUs.
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