VODAFONE QATAR TAKES LEGAL ACTION AGAINST ICTQATAR FOR ALLOWING VIRGIN MOBILE TO BE THE 3RD ENTRANT IN QATAR Vodafone Qatar (“Vodafone Qatar” or “The Company”) is taking legal action against the country’s telecommunications regulator, ictQATAR, for its allowance of Virgin Mobile’s entry, without being licensed, into the Qatari market.
Vodafone Qatar believes Virgin Mobile’s tie up with QTEL is the entry of a third service provider.
Vodafone Qatar views this as a violation of its second public mobile telecommunications networks and services license conditions and the telecoms law in Qatar which states that no further mobile service provider would enter into the market, and be licensed, until the proposed Sector review. For this opportunity, Vodafone Qatar’s shareholders collectively paid 7.7 Billion Qatari Riyals for the 2nd Mobile license in Qatar, of which 3.381,600,000 Qatari Riyals was raised through an Initial Public Offering open to Qatari Individuals and Institutions.
“We are taking legal action for the damages this has caused our shareholders. We are simply protecting their interests; 82,000 of which are individual Qataris that paid 40% of the 2nd Mobile License fee,” said H.E Sheikh Abdulrahman Bin Saud Al-Thani, Vodafone Qatar’s Chairman,
“Vodafone Qatar is happy to compete and is not threatened by Virgin Mobile’s entry into the market, but we see this as a change to the rules of our license,” said Grahame Maher, Vodafone Qatar’s CEO.
Source: Qatar Exchange | 
DOHA
