DOHA: Qatar’s cellular subscriber base grew strongly by 3.3 percent Q-o-Q in Q3 in 2013 to 3.68m. Despite high penetration rate of around 170 percent, the potential for growth still remains in Qatar due to forecasted economic and population growth.
Ooredoo extended the growth momentum to Q3 by adding 75,6000 subscribers. The subscriber base of Vodafone also kept its growth momentum due to increase in both post-paid and pre-paid segment on the back of 10 percent growth in population.
The erosion in Ooredoo’s market share has slowed down significantly.
Ooredoo market share declined slightly to 67.7 percent in Q3 compared to 67.8 percent in 2Q13.
The “GCC Telecom Sector Quarterly Review” by Global Investment House (GIH) noted the mobile subscriber growth in Bahrain slowed down to 51,400 in Q3 after increasing substantially by 194,600 in Q2 this year. The strong subscriber growth in 2Q13 was apparently due to the launch of 4G services by Batelco in February 2013.
The Peninsula
