Still no IPO date for Vodafone Qatar

Vodafone Qatar’s CEO Grahame Maher has told the Gulf Times that the start-up is still awaiting approval from the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) for an initial public offering (IPO), a pre-requisite for launching services in the country. Vodafone Qatar plans to launch GSM-based mobile services for 1,000 trial users on 1 March, but has not agreed a firm date for an IPO of 40% of its shares, which it previously said should go ahead sometime this month. Maher also told the paper that he was confident that outstanding issues with the state’s current sole operator Qatar Telecom (Qtel), including interconnection charges, would be resolved by the start of March.