From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Qtel (short for Qatar Telecom) is the exclusive telecommunications provider in Qatar and is one of the largest public companies in Qatar with about 2000 employees. It was successfully launched on the Doha Securities Market in 1998 and listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1999, the Bahrain Stock Exchange in 2001 and the Abu Dhabi Securities Market in 2002. Qtel is a winner of the 2005 Gulf Excellence Award and the 2006 Economic Award.

Qtel also provides mobile telephone services in Oman via Nawras, a joint venture with TDC and Omani partners. Qtel is the prestige partner of, and official telecommunications provider to, the 15th Asian Games Doha 2006.

In October 2006 Qtel and Korea Telecom signed a memorandum of understanding toward the two telecommunications providers working together in Qatar on infrastructure construction and IT solution delivery for what has been coined 'Ubiquitous Cities' (U-City).

In November 2006 Qtel announced an agreement to acquire a strategic stake in NavLink, a leading provider of managed data services to businesses in the Middle East. Qtel will hold an equity stake (38.2%) in the business, joining AT&T Inc.

In November 2006, The Emir issued Law No 34 of 2006 restructuring the administration of information and communication systems in Qatar and lifting Qtel's monopoly; ictQATAR was announced as the new telecoms regulator.

To be among the top 20 Telecommunication Companies in the world by 2020.

Qtel provides a range of telecommunications products including national and international, Wireline and mobile telephony. It also offers Internet and Data services, ADSL, Wi-Fi and Cable TV services. It provides fully commercial, MPLS (Multi Protocol Label Switching) based Global IPVN. Qtel runs and manages the Qatar Data Centre that hosts AT&T’s first global node (AGN) in the Middle East.

VOiP users may want to be aware that Qtel has blocked VoiP services in the past, and that Skype's website has been blocked from casual use in the past. In addition, Qtel uses content-control software to filter out websites they deem inappropriate to Qatari interests and morality, which include among others BoingBoing^[1] and Taipei Perl Mongers^[2].

Warning message from Internet Qatar & Qtel upon reaching a blocked site in the State of Qatar

Qtel introduced DVB-H service to the Middle East, delivering real-time “Mobile TV broadcast” that captures up to 13 channels like Al-Jazeera, CNN and CNBC through mobile handsets. It also introduced 3G mobile Internet & video calling, as well as the Triple Play. And during the Doha 2006 Games Qtel launched the Asian games mobile portal, bringing entertainment and information services related to the Asian games event.

Qtel has also implemented TETRA, Terrestrial Trunked Radio, which is a professional mobile radio system for small to large industrial entities and organizations. The service is used in sectors such as governmental, oil and gas, mining, sports events, police, defense, security, safety, paramedic, rescue and the private sector.

After a series of anonymous acts of Wikipedia vandalism and spam in December 2006, coming from the IP address of Qtel's proxy server, it was blocked from editing by a Wikipedia administrator^[3]. The block affected nearly the entire nation of Qatari Internet users, including those from news organization Al-Jazeera.

There was also a block on creating user accounts, meaning that people editing from Qtel had no way in which to edit Wikipedia at all, but eventually this condition relaxed several hours later after the ban was widely reported across technology sites.^[4]

• Qtel, official site