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Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Financial Times
VODAFONE QATAR CLAIMS QTEL VICTORY
Vodafone Qatar claimed a partial victory on Sunday in a case in which it had alleged that a branding agreement between Virgin Mobile and Qatar Telecom (Qtel) was in violation of law, writes FT. Vodafone Qatar, which ended state-owned incumbent Qtel’s monopoly when it paid USD2.1 billion for a license in 2007, argued that a “brand franchise agreement” between Virgin and Qtel in May amounted to a third telecom provider, and was therefore in breach of its own license. Although the local regulator ictQatar did not find the agreement in breach of license by constituting a third operator, it did rule in favor of Vodafone Qatar. ictQatar concluded that Qtel broke telecom laws and distorted competition by presenting the branding agreement “in a manner which misled or deceived people about who was providing the services,” thereby misleading consumers into thinking that Virgin Mobile was a new operator or service supplier in the region.

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