NEWS
Minister approves amendment of network rollout
coverage obligations
T
he Minister of Transport and Communications, Jassim Seif
Ahmed al-Sulaiti, has approved the amendment of the network
rollout and coverage obligations of Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar
licences for the provision of public mobile telecommunications
networks and services.
The amendments adopted unified obligations for both companies
relating to the 2G, 3G and 4G networks that are in accordance
with the amendments of the network rollout and coverage
obligations of both companies’ licences relating to public mobile
telecommunications networks and services.
Also, the Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has issued
decisions to grant the radio spectrum licences to both companies
for the deployment of 5G commercial networks in Qatar as of
January 2019.
In addition, the CRA has unified all prior existing radio spectrum
licences and replaced them with a single document ‘Radio
Spectrum Licence’ that includes harmonised terms and conditions
for both companies.
The CRA has initially assigned to each company 100MHz within the
3500–3800MHz frequency band for the commercial deployment of
5G networks.
Under the radio spectrum licences, the two companies will be
committed to rollout the 5G networks before the end of 2020 in all
densely populated areas, all primary roads and highways, as well
as all venues associated with the FIFA 2022 World Cup, including
stadiums and fan zones.
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Ministry and QFC sign MoU to boost digital tech
industry development
T
he Ministry of Transport and Communications (MOTC) and the
Qatar Financial Centre have signed a MoU for co-operating in all
areas relating to technological and economic development.
The MoU aims at supporting the activities or projects that help raise
the digital industry’s contribution to the Qatari GDP.
The two parties will also work together on improving the
competitiveness of the local digital sector and supporting the
activities aimed at attracting local and international investments
and companies.
They intend to support digital development in the field of
information and communication technology but there are
special areas of focus such as attracting global e-commerce and
e-commerce related technology companies and driving digital
investments in Qatar.
Reem Al-Mansoori, MOTC’s Assistant Undersecretary for Digital
Society Development Affairs, said: “We are delighted to have signed
this MoU with QFC, which comes within the context of MOTC’s
digital industry competitiveness enhancement mechanisms, through
boosting entrepreneurship, research and innovation.
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INTELLIGENTCIO
The MoU was signed by QFC CEO Yousuf
Mohamed Al-Jaida and MOTC’s Assistant
Undersecretary for Digital Society
Development Affairs Reem Al-Mansoori
“The State of Qatar is committed to building a smart, vibrant and
robust ICT sector as one of the fundamentals for a knowledge-
based economy.
“The MoU is a key step toward benefiting from QFC’s expertise and
visible support for Qatar’s digital and technological industry agenda.”
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