Vodafone Qatar will tomorrow (14 May 2019) begin taking pre-orders from customers for the first 5G smartphone on its network, the Xiaomi Mi MIX 3 (5G), built using Qualcomm technology and costing QAR3,999 (USD1,092), reports The Peninsula. The initial quantity of available handsets will be limited, while a launch date for commercial 5G smartphone services was not announced. The latest news follows Vodafone Qatar’s recent announcement of a home broadband service utilising 5G technology over its 3.5GHz network and a contract signed with Huawei to expand 5G infrastructure.
Vodafone Qatar posted a net profit of QAR44 million in the first quarter of 2019, up 149% year-on-year, on three-month revenues which climbed 0.6% to QAR535 million, driven by continued growth in its post-paid subscriber base as well as fixed broadband services development. EBITDA for Q1 2019 increased by 34% y-o-y to QAR181 million due to higher revenue, lower costs (under a cost optimisation programme) and the application of IFRS 16 accounting standards. Mobile customers grew by 334,000 y-o-y to 1.743 million due to strong post-paid subscriber growth and from a positive impact of aligning the company’s definition of pre-paid active users with the ITU and Qatari regulatory authorities.