Vodafone Qatar releases nine-month results, claims 20% market share

Vodafone Qatar, the only mobile competitor to Qatar Telecom, has revealed that it signed up 353,580 customers by the end of December 2009, giving it a market share of over 20% just six months after its commercial network launch on 1 July. Company CEO Grahame Maher said the user numbers exceeded expectations, whilst CFO John Tombleson said that all financial indicators were either in line or ahead of its plan. The cellco, which introduced its services with a limited trial in March 2009, posted nine-month revenue of QAR217 million (USD60 million), whilst operating losses in the period reached USD137 million. The firm also said that its international calling promotion in 4Q 2009 proved successful, with users making over 70 million minutes of overseas calls in November alone.