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Research and Markets: Qatar Telecommunications Report Q1 2011

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.

BMIs Q1 2011 update on the Qatar telecoms market incorporates data from the country's two main operators for the first nine months of 2010. It also assesses the impact of a number of market developments. Our latest update on the Qatar telecoms market also contains our five-year forecasts for the country's mobile, fixed-line and internet sectors, which have been extended to 2015.

The rate of subscriber uptake in Q310 supports our earlier position in our previous report that growth of Qatar's mobile market has slowed down. In the three months to September 30 2010, the country's mobile subscriber base expanded by just 1.4% quarter-on-quarter (q-o-q). This growth rate contrasts with 2.8% growth in Q210 and 18.1% growth in Q309. BMI attributed the upsurge in customer growth in the second half of 2009 to the introduction of competition and the launch of commercial services by Vodafone Qatar. However, considering Qatar's extremely high mobile penetration rate, which is expected to reach 188% at the end of December 2010, BMI believes the rates of growth cannot be sustained for much longer.

Assessing the latest figures by Vodafone and Qatari incumbent operator Qtel, BMI predicts Qatar's mobile market will grow by 15.1% in 2010. Our updated forecast envisages the rate of growth tailing off more sharply in the latter years of our forecast, falling to just 3.3% in 2015. Growth will be partly supported by Qatars expanding population, which is predicted to grow by more than 10% in the five years to 2015.

In May 2010 Virgin Mobile Qatar, which is owned by the UK's Virgin Group, had reportedly launched a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) service using Qtel's network. Although the launch of Virgin Mobiles operations was trailed by controversy, the MVNO is pushing ahead with its strategy to capture a considerable portion of the youth market with a range of contemporary value-added services and promotions targeting young users. Virgin Mobile regards the success of the Qatari venture as a possible launch pad into other Middle East mobile markets.

Some Key Topics Covered:

• SWOT Analysis
• Business Environment
• Industry Forecast Scenario
• Market Data Analysis
• Regulatory Environment
• Competitive Landscape
• Company Monitor
• Company Profiles
• Regional Telecommunications Penetration Overview
• Country Snapshot: Qatar Demographic Data
• Section 1: Population
• Section 2: Education And Healthcare
• Section 3: Labour Market And Spending Power
• Glossary Of Terms
• BMI Methodology

Companies Mentioned:

• Qatar Telecom (Qtel)
• Vodafone Qatar

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/7d3d57/qatar_telecommunic

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
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