QVMS, the service Qatari incumbent QTel runs with Virgin Mobile, has stopped registering new subscribers in compliance with a regulatory request, reports The Peninsula.
Virgin reportedly stated that telecoms regulator ictQatar had asked it to do this…
QVMS, the service Qatari incumbent QTel runs with Virgin Mobile, has stopped registering new subscribers in compliance with a regulatory request, reports The Peninsula.
Virgin reportedly stated that telecoms regulator ictQatar had asked it to do this until it complies with “how we present and market our services”.
Last year, ictQatar has ruled that although Qtel did not break the law in going into a JV with Virgin Mobile, it had broken the terms of its licence.
Vodafone Qatar, which started operating in the Emirate in 2007, had been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Qtel over a ‘brand franchise agreement’ with Virgin Mobile.
The UK telco had paid US$2.1bn for the country’s second licence and had thought it was entering a duopoly. However, last May Qtel entered a ‘branding agreement’ with Virgin Mobile which Vodafone Qatar argued amounted to a third licence.
The regulator stated that the branding agreement was presented: “in a manner which misled or deceived people about who was providing the services. Some people were misled into thinking that Virgin Mobile was a new telecoms operator or service supplier in Qatar”.
