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Qatar Telecom (QTel) is on the verge of securing a $1bn loan facility to finance general operations,

QTel, part-owned by the Government of Qatar, has spent recent months increasing its holdings in affiliate companies, such as Iraq-based Asiacell, Kuwait's Wataniya and Tunisia's Tunisiana.

Vivendi's 53% stake in Maroc Telecom.

These companies, in which Ooredoo already has a controlling interest, include brands such as Qtel in Qatar, Indosat in Indonesia, Wataniya in Kuwait, Nawras in Oman, Tunisiana in Tunisia, and Nedjma in Algeria.

Operations in Kuwait were “negatively impacted by stronger competition” in the quarter, Qtel said in the statement. The company is now offering to purchase shares it doesn’t own in Kuwait’s National Mobile Telecommunications Co., also known as Wataniya Telecom. It submitted an offer document for approval from the Kuwait Capital Markets Authority, which may lead to an offer for all the issued shares of Wataniya, it said. Qtel offered to pay about 640 million dinars ($2.3 billion), or 2.67 dinars a share, to purchase the stake, Al-Rai newspaper reported July 1, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter. Wataniya competes with Mobile Telecommunications Co., Kuwait’s largest mobile phone operator, known as Zain. (ZAIN)

With a high mobile penetration rate of around 170%, we expect mobile subscriber growth rate in Qatar to mirror expected population growth rate of around 3.7% per annum going forward

3m mark this year, with the country counting a total population of 1.9m people

Consumers in Qatar can now retain their existing mobile phone number when switching service providers, increasing the competition between incumbent Qtel and Vodafone Qatar.

This followed the first-ever quarterly contraction of the Qatari mobile market in Q211.

By 2016, we believe the mobile penetration rate will reach 189.3%, representing a subscriber base of 3.128mn.

We now expect the number of fixed-line subscribers to reach 304,000 subscribers at the end of 2011, reflecting a penetration rate of 19.8%.

2.794mn mobile subscribers in Qatar at the end of December 2011. This was a penetration rate of 149.4%, down from 157.1% in 2010

positive growth over the next five years, albeit at a slower rate, mobile penetration is forecast to trend downwards as population growth outstrips net additions. By

Also, as a result of liberalisation in the telecoms market, we expect to see high speed internet penetration rise from its current rate of 37% to approximately 56% by 2012.”