Qatar Daily News

Microsoft and Qatar Telecom (Qtel) have signed a broad strategic alliance to develop integrated cloud-based services, software applications, mobile services and devices over Qtel’s converged networks. The partnership aims to expand Qtel’s service portfolio including corporate and consumer-focused applications, with the first resultant products planned to be on the market by mid-2010.
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Telecom equipment vendor Nokia Siemens Networks said Tuesday it has signed a framework agreement to provide infrastructure technology and services for Qatar-based communications group Qtel International.

As part of the agreement, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying an energy-efficient radio access solution, based on a Flexi Base Station, that will offer Read the rest of this entry »

As a continuation of the promotions launched to celebrate the two years mark of Blackberry service in Qatar, Qtel with the Blackberry Gemini offer a few weeks ago, brings to the market a new and innovative package for the Blackberry Bold 9000.

The new offer is designed to fuel BlackBerry enthusiasm nationwide and integrates with Qtel’s commitment to double the range of supported high-end Smartphone devices.

Customers who apply for Qtel’s Blackberry Internet Service and sign-up through the Shahry service will be able to purchase a Blackberry Bold 9000 for just QR 1,999, a major saving on the standard retail price of QAR 2,375.
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Vodafone Qatar has switched on its network, connecting the first 100 customers. According to Gulf Times, quoting CEO Grahame Maher, the remaining 900 customers selected through a special promotion on 15 February will be connected to the network in the next few days. The network is expected to go commercially live in either July or August. Vodafone will compete with sole existing operator Qatar Telecom (Qtel).

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) Q.S.C. (“Qtel”) today announced the expiration and preliminary results of its concurrent tender offers, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Indonesia Communications Pte. Ltd., to acquire Series B Shares of PT Indosat Tbk. (IDX: ISAT; NYSE: IIT), an Indonesian company (“Indosat” and, such shares, “Series B Shares”), pursuant to an Indonesian offer, and to acquire American Depositary Shares representing Series B Shares (“ADSs”) pursuant to a U.S. offer. The offers expired at 3:00 a.m., New York City time (which is 3:00 p.m., Jakarta time), on February 18, 2009. In the aggregate, Qtel had offered to purchase up to 1,314,466,775 Series B Shares (including Series B Shares underlying ADSs) in the offers, representing approximately 24.19% of the total issued and outstanding Series B Shares (including Series B Shares underlying ADSs) of Indosat.

Based on preliminary information provided by The Bank of New York Mellon, the ADS tender agent for the U.S. offer, and PT Danareksa Sekuritas, the share tender agent for the Indonesian offer, a total of approximately 17,705,799 ADSs were validly tendered into the U.S. offer and not withdrawn, and a total of approximately 1,439,620,500 Series B Shares were validly tendered into the Indonesian offer and not withdrawn, representing an aggregate of approximately 2,324,910,450 Series B Shares (including Series B Shares underlying ADSs). Each ADS represents fifty (50) Series B Shares. Because the number of Series B Shares (including Series B Shares underlying ADSs) tendered into the offers exceeds the aggregate number of Series B Shares that Qtel offered to purchase in the offers, the proration rules will apply pursuant to the terms of the offers. Qtel currently expects that the proration factor will be approximately 56.54%.
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The Qtel 3G network in Qatar has been upgraded to one of the most advanced national networks in the region, with the activation of High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

The network upgrade – which sees the implementation of the advanced 3G wireless network development across the country – will provide customers with enhanced upload capacity on enabled devices and increase speeds of uploading content.

With the major network enhancement activated, customers throughout Qatar now enjoy access to the advanced service around the clock at no extra cost.

Qtel’s network is now capable of providing upload speeds of up to 1 megabits per second (Mbps), three times the previous network speed and one of the fastest available anywhere in the region.
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Wataniya Palestine Telecom (WPT), Palestine’s second mobile operator, today announced its success in securing US$85m further funding to support the next phase of its mobile telephony network build-out. The first-of-its-kind private sector loan draws funding from a wide range of leading international banks and local Palestinian banks, as well as multilateral institutions, providing material support for the creation of a new infrastructure for mobile phone services within Palestine.

It is the first agreement in this field to deliver funding for development from international and local private sector sources.

The US$85m Senior Secured Syndicated Facility loan was agreed between WPT and the lender group comprising of the Bank of Palestine Plc, Quds Bank, Commercial Bank of Palestine Limited, Ericsson Credit AB, International Finance Corporation, and Standard Bank Plc. Exportkreditnämden, the Swedish Export Credits Guarantee Board and GuarantCo, a specialist guarantor of infrastructure financing in low-income countries, are acting as guarantors to the Syndicated Facility. Standard Bank Plc is acting as a Global-Coordinator for the Facility.
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Vodafone, which plans to start operations in Qatar in March, said on Wednesday it still had no firm date for a proposed initial public offering (IPO).

The telecom giant, which will begin its final stage of network testing using 1,000 volunteers next month, said it was still awaiting approval from the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA).

Based on a requirement in Vodafone’s Qatar licence awarded by the country’s telecom regulator ictQATAR, Vodafone should have made the IPO before November 30 last year, Gulf Times reported on Wednesday.

But due to the market conditions, QFMA requested that Vodafone Qatar submit a revised timetable but chief executive officer Grahame Maher said that had not yet been agreed.

He also told the paper that he was confident that outstanding issues with rival Qtel such as inter-connection charges would be sorted out prior to its scheduled launch of mobile services on March 1.
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