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Ooredoo

Telecoms

Ooredoo Overview

Ooredoo is a multinational telecommunications company based in Doha, Qatar.

Established as Qtel Group, Qatar Public Telecommunications Corporation in 1987, in 2013 the group was rebranded as Ooredoo.

Ooredoo provides mobile, wireless, wire line and content services. It operates in domestic and international telecommunication markets, offering business and residential services.

One of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications companies, Ooredoo was the first operator globally to launch commercial 5G services in Qatar.

In 2021 it had more than 121 million customers worldwide. The company reported revenues of US$6.4 billion in 2023.

Ooredoo operates across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia: Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Maldives, Oman, Palestine, Qatar and Tunisia.

Ooredoo is 68% owned by Qatar government related entities, 10% owned by the UAE’s ADIA and the remaining 22% is publicly traded.

In October 2023 Ooredoo, Kuwait’s Zain Group and the UAE’s TASC Towers Holding signed agreements to create the largest tower company in the Middle East and North Africa, to be valued at $2.2 billion.

The company is spending $1.1 billion over 2024-26 on upgrading its mobile coverage and quality of services in key overseas markets including Algeria, Tunisia, Gaza and the West Bank, Iraq and the Maldives.

Shares are listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Ooredoo News

Gulf data centres will need to look beyond hydrocarbon fuel sources to renewables, experts say

Gulf urged to add more to its data centre offerings

Data centres are big business across the Gulf. But experts say the industry faces some major challenges: developing value-added goods and services, increasing research and development funding and identifying the right energy mix to power them. Sales in the GCC data centre market were worth nearly $3.5 billion last year, according to estimates by Research […]

Omantel's market share fell five percentage points  in 2024 to 48 percent of subscribers in the country, hurting profits

Profits fall as Omantel loses subscribers to rivals

Profits have fallen at Oman Telecommunications Company after it lost market share to competitors. Omantel, Oman’s largest telecommunications provider, said net profit was down 3 percent last year to $795 million.   Market share fell five percentage points in 2024 to 48 percent of a total of  7.1 million subscribers in the country, down from 53 […]

Ooredoo GCC network

Ooredoo to build high-speed data network for GCC

Qatari telelcoms company Ooredoo Group has signed an agreement with French company Alcatel Submarine Networks to build a new submarine cable and fibre network connecting seven countries in the region.  The project, called Gulf in Fibre, will connect the six GCC countries — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and Oman — and Iraq […]

Shoppers admire Huawei's Mate 70 smartphone series at a flagship store in Beijing, China. Huawei is is banned in the US but expanding 5G networks in the GCC

China-US tech tensions threaten GCC telecom strategy

Gulf countries risk being dragged into the great power “rivalry” between China and the United States when it comes to advanced technology, forcing them to pick a side. As high-tech restrictions are rolled out by Beijing and Washington, the days of buying state-of-the-art semiconductors from the US while installing China’s 5G networks might be over, […]

The e& booth at Mobile World Congress 2024 in Barcelona. Experts believe a rise in the company's tax bill would be 'harsh'

Doubt surrounds e&’s earnings as UAE tax rise looms

There is uncertainty over whether e&, the UAE’s former telecom monopoly, will pay more of its profit in taxes after the federal government announced it would raise corporate tax for multinational companies operating in the country from 2025. Emirates Telecommunications Group, which rebranded as e& but is better known under its previous name Etisalat, is […]

Qatar is the world’s largest LNG supplier and plans to expand output from 77 mtpa to 126 mtpa by 2027

$500bn QIA to go ‘aggressive’ and close big deals says CEO

The $500-billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) will be investing more “aggressively” and closing more “big-ticket” deals, according to a news report. Mohammed Al-Sowaidi, the fund’s new chief executive officer, told the Financial Times that QIA will invest with “more frequency” and undertake a review of its investment strategy. The fund remains bullish on the US, […]

Architecture, Building, Cityscape

Qatar replaces chief of its $510bn sovereign fund

The Qatari government has appointed Mohammed Al Sowaidi to lead its $510 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). He replaces Mansoor Al Mahmoud who had headed the sovereign wealth fund since 2018. Al Sowaidi joined the fund in 2010 and worked as the Americas region’s chief investment officer. The QIA, set up in 2005, manages revenues […]

Nvidia shares Jensen Huang

Sales of Nvidia stock soar in UAE in record rally

As Nvidia’s stock market value hit $3.65 trillion on Thursday to make it the world’s most valuable company, so shares are in hot demand among retail investors in the Gulf.  The Californian chipmaker overtook Apple, which previously held the record for the highest closing market capitalisation at $3.57 trillion on October 21. “It’s our most […]