Qatar’s economic growth has normalised over 2023 following the World Cup boom, with normalized growth expected in the near term supported by LNG production expansion and ongoing economic diversification initiatives.
Qatari headquartered Ooredoo are market leaders in their home country. Vodafone is the only other operator and sold its stake to former joint venture partner the Qatar
Foundation back in 2018, although it continues to operate under the Vodafone name. With only two operators in the market, it is hardly surprising that there is little infrastructure sharing.
Qatar - telecom market statistics Q3 2024
Ooredoo’s Qatari portfolio is part of the merger with Zain and TASC Towers, introducing the first towerco to the market. But with the country’s small landmass, population and MNO count there is limited long-term growth prospects for TASC. The current tenancy ratio of 1.15x is unlikely to growth significantly without a further acquisition of Vodafone Qatar’s towers, allowing TASC to dismantle overlapping sites and run both MNOs networks on a single portfolio.
The early adoption of next generation technology makes Qatar an ideal market for digital ICT infrastructure and necessitates dense networks for high capacity 5G. Qatar has seen strong telecom market growth with an increasing urban population, high adoption of 3G,4G and 5G phones as well as an expanding IoT sector.
Qatar - estimated tower ownership Q3 2024
2G and 3G platforms are expected to close by 2025 with most mobile connections to be on 5G by 2029. This aligns with the government’s Qatar National Vision 2023 to become a front-runner in 5G rollout, accelerating digital transformation and improving network infrastructure.
Ooredoo has deployed their first private LTE enterprise network for offshore oil-and-gas with Nokia, replacing the existing wifi network. Currently TASC is taking over macro towers and rooftops, but there is an opportunity to expand into non-macro infrastructure depending on regulation and appetite from Ooredoo.
