Eight registered for second national operator licence

Eight international telecoms operators have registered their interest in applying for Qatar’s second fixed line licence, the country’s regulatory authority ictQATAR’s said yesterday. The line-up of Bahrain’s Batelco, Jordan Telecom Group, Verizon Communications (US), Vodafone Group (UK), AT&T (US), a subsidiary of the UK’s BT Group, Italy’s Eutelia and PCCW (Hong Kong) will be judged in a ‘beauty contest’ – a comparative evaluation on network quality, range of proposed services and level of public commitment. The winner will be announced in May. ictQATAR secretary general Hessa Al-Jaber said: ‘We are confident that the award of this licence will further ictQATAR’s vision of state-of-the-art infrastructure with high speed broadband and innovative services for every Qatari citizen and business.’ The concession will cost QAR10 million (USD2.75 million), the regulator said last December.