Qatar - broadband

Broadband penetration in Qatar at 50pc: Qtel

Broadband penetration in Qatar is rapidly increasing and standing currently at 50 percent, Qatar Telecom (Qtel) COO, Sheikh Fahad bin Jassim Al Thani told the Global Wireless Broadband 2008 Summit which concluded here on Monday. He said this has led to challenges Qtel is facing in managing its bandwidth as more consumers shift to peer-to-peer (P2P) and streaming applications.

Shaikh Fahad, who was one of the speakers at the summit hosted by ictQatar with Qtel as the Platinum Sponsor, covered the broad spectrum of advanced broadband wireless services being offered by Qtel to its consumers and businesses in Qatar.

He said the world has witnessed a phenomenal growth in both Internet and Broadband penetration. However, the past years have seen a steady decline in broadband Internet adoption mainly due to infrastructure constraints such as ADSL and fiber networks, especially in emerging markets which do not have enough coverage to meet consumer demand.

Broadband wireless services are expected to overcome the infrastructure hurdles. However, they have suffered historically from lack of standardization and regulatory support, he said.

With the development of WiMAX, HSPA and LTE standards, availability of commercial WiMAX and HSPA equipment, and the large number of broadband wireless trial and commercial deployments across the world, Sheikh Fahad said, Qtel believes that broadband wireless is gaining momentum, operators have a number of options and now is the time to enter the broadband wireless arena with a prudent strategy.

He also spoke of the broadband wireless services being offered by some of Qtel’s subsidiaries in Middle East and Asia and the joint venture launched by Qtel in partnership with ATCO and Clearwire International to offer broadband wireless/WiMAX services in the region.

He pointed out that broadband wireless deployments still face a number of challenges and require strong regulatory support, especially in emerging markets. He said it is important that the regulators issue sufficient spectrum to WiMAX operators, reduce speculative investments by encouraging serious bidders and expedite WiMAX spectrum auctions to support industry momentum.