The telecommunications market in Qatar is witnessing a steady growth with around 5 million fixed line and mobile subscriptions (including broadband) and a market revenue of over QR10m last year, says the first annual report of the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) released yesterday.
Fibre broadband connection speeds in Qatar reach up to 100Mbps. Qatar has one of the highest mobile SIM penetration rates in the world, and competition has brought significant uptake in mobile data services, says the report.
The report highlights the progress CRA has made in promoting competition and safeguarding the interest of consumers, contributing to Qatar’s transition to a smart, digitally connected nation with a growing, diversified economy.
CRA is developing a quality of service (QoS) framework that will make the performance obligations of networks and service providers clear. It is also focusing on regulation in wholesale markets to decrease retail regulation, which is expected to benefit fixed lines in particular, and to reproduce some of the steady growth in mobile.
The intent is to gradually remove, where possible, intrusive regulation at the retail level to encourage service providers to develop better services and innovative products, said the report.
“As the report outlines, the hallmarks of Qatar’s regulatory framework will remain predictability and clarity, ensuring that Qatar continually enhances its rich landscape of services. We will continue to analyse the state of competition in the telecommunications market and determine where further measures are needed to develop communications services, including in the fixed market,” said Mohammed Ali Al Mannai, President of CRA, while releasing the report. The report indicates that the telecom market is healthy and growing, and investment remains strong, with increased revenues, new products, and overall net profits.
CRA provides wide-ranging consumer protection
Both Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar invested in their networks with the launch of LTE/LTE+ networks in 2014–15.
Competition in mobile has developed, although competition in fixed lines has yet to fully emerge, which will impact the future growth of that sector.
Consumers are benefiting from wide-ranging consumer protection efforts, including a dispute resolution mechanism, a new advertising code of conduct, the Consumer Protection Policy (CPP), and a mobile app—Arsel—that allows dissatisfied consumers to send instant comments and feedback to CRA directly.
“While a great deal of work has been done in the area of consumer rights, CRA is continuing to strengthen the codes and frameworks that will protect consumers in the future,” said the report. A robust regulatory and legal framework that supports the development of the sector continues to be put in place.
A recently developed competition policy framework is aimed at creating a certain and stable environment in which market participants understand under what circumstances CRA will undertake investigations into anti-competitive behavior—targeted at segments that pose challenges in the delivery of effective competition and good outcomes for consumers.
Terms and conditions for access to and/or sharing of civil infrastructure have been put in place.
A large-scale survey of consumers in 2014 found that while a majority of telecommunications users in the country are generally satisfied with the quality of service offered by their service providers, pricing, rate plans, and complaint resolution were cited as key areas for improvement. From February 2014 to December 2015, CRA resolved 99 percent complaints and inquires (3,586) that consumers couldn’t resolve with their service providers.
CRA issued 5,492 spectrum licenses, 2,278 Type Approvals for Radio and Telecommunications Terminal Equipment (RTTE), 1,839 frequency assignments, and 1,233 new Import Authorization licenses for RTTE, investigated 115 interference cases, and conducted 18 QoS investigations.
A total of 75,044 customs clearance applications were also processed. The number of registered domains in Qatar reached 21,113.
Source: http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/news/qatar/385041/telecom-sector-clocks-steady-growth-in-qatar