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Ooredoo Accused Of Monopolizing Qatar Telecom Industry

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Qatari telecom giant Ooredoo has been accused of anti-competitive conduct, costing the country QR 750,000 each month.

Ooredoo, Qatar’s largest telecom provider has come under harsh criticism for allegedly trying to monopolize the country’s telecom industry, the Communications Regulatory Authority has said.

The CRA has reason to believe that Ooredoo is deliberately damaging Qatar’s economic development, and has been engaging in anti-competitive behavior, and issued a formal censure this month for not granting rival companies access to their established infrastructure.

ooredooMain companies affected are the state-owned Qatar National Broadband Network and Vodafone, both have been refused to access Ooredoo’s established infrastructure even though the company was instructed to let them use their ducts, since building new ones would cost a fortune and take more time.

Both QNBN and Vodafone filed a complaint earlier this year in March, claiming that the company had refused them use of their cables and established network, even though there was a decision in 2013.

QNBN says that Ooredoo is to blame for around QR 75 million in revenue loss a month, which could add up to QR 92 million in 2017 and 2018, as they are preventing a competitive market.

The CRA refused the telecom giants defense, in which they claimed that the QNBN had breached terms by failing to settle due finances, and order Ooredoo to fulfill all access requests and deliver a monthly report of requests.

Qatar was previously ranked first among developed countries by their respective percentage of population using internet by the UN Broadband Commission for Digital Development, in 2015, as well as second for percentage of households with internet.

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