NEWS
QATAR
New national privacy law in Qatar
The State of Qatar has announced that it has issued Law No . 13 of 2016 Concerning Privacy and Protection of Personal Data ( the “ Law ”). Once gazetted , the Law will officially be the first national level legal regime specifically governing data protection in the GCC .
As such , it is expected to herald a new era of privacy-related compliance considerations for data controllers and processors in Qatar and the wider Middle East region , with neighbouring nations anticipated to follow suit in short order with their own national level privacy and data protection regimes .
The general rule under the Law is that the personal data of an individual is to be processed in accordance with principles including those of
transparency , integrity and respect for human dignity and acceptable practices . The Law contains a number of provisions which seek to establish appropriate information disclosure obligations on data controllers toward data subjects ( e . g . purposes for collection , parties to be involved in processing activities , manner of processing ) and also requires data controllers to limit their collection and retention of personal data to that which is relevant and necessary to achieve the purposes for which it was collected , and ensure that it is accurate , complete and current .
The Law also contains a Chapter aimed at imposing conditions and restrictions on the use of electronic communications for direct marketing purposes , where direct marketing is defined as “[ s ] ending any advertising or marketing materials via any means to individuals ”.
of a typical HD movie of 3GB within around 30 seconds . Vodafone is one of the first carriers to introduce 4.5G technology in the GCC region .
Vodafone Qatar partners with Huawei to introduce 4.5G
Vodafone Qatar , in partnership with Huawei , has announced another milestone for their 4G network having achieved data speeds of 1Gbps in a test environment thanks to the introduction of 4.5G technology .
The necessary technology to achieve such high speeds was tested on live sites in Vodafone Qatar ’ s network reaching speeds of up to 780Mbps . This speed allows the download
Ian Gray , Chief Executive Officer , Vodafone Qatar said , “ The introduction of a 4.5G network will enable the implementation of smart city technologies such as the Internet of Things ( IoT ) and cloud services in the country by providing the mobile broadband capability that underpins any smart city initiative . Vodafone is committed to continually investing in Qatar ’ s ICT sector which will play a key role in realising Qatar National Vision 2030 .”
ZongYan , Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Qatar , said : “ We are delighted to build on our strategic partnership with Vodafone Qatar and contribute to accelerating advanced ICT services in Qatar . A 4.5G network enables Vodafone Qatar to offer its customers true broadband speeds that haven ’ t been experienced in the region before , and pave the way for the introduction of more advanced mobile services in the near future .”
Building on Vodafone ’ s existing 4G + services , the new 4.5G network will be rolled out across Vodafone Qatar ’ s network in the next few months which will offer customers even faster mobile speeds and provide the company with greater network bandwidth utilisation .
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