Vodafone Qatar has agreed to upgrade and expand fibre broadband network services across The Pearl-Qatar via an agreement with local partner United Development Company (UDC), promising 1Gbps internet access and advanced IP voice and TV/video/entertainment services for thousands of buildings and homes on the reclaimed island, Gulf Times reports. Initially, more than 27,000 of the island’s current residents and 700 businesses will benefit from Vodafone Qatar’s high speed fibre network upgrade, with a further 7,000 residents and businesses expected to gain access in the coming months. TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database says that Vodafone Qatar launched fixed broadband internet services in The Pearl-Qatar in 2010 by utilising the existing fibre network of UDC, before adding fixed voice services in September 2011; it currently offers residents fibre internet speeds of up to 100Mbps.
Having previously focused chiefly on its mobile network, Vodafone Qatar has recently committed to ‘significantly’ grow its fixed line network across the country, and earlier this week signed an agreement to deploy advanced fibre services for the USD45 billion Lusail City development. Its website says that it is ‘accelerating the development of a vast underground network of fibre cables that will deliver an array of high-speed, safe and secure products and services to customers all over Qatar’. The operator is now a 95% Qatari-owned company following the recent purchase of Vodafone Group’s stake by Qatar Foundation.