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September 17, 2007 12:38 IST
India's Reliance [Get Quote] Telecom and Airtel are among 12 companies in the fray for Qatar's second mobile licence as the deadline for submission of bids ended.
Seventeen firms had originally applied for the licence but the figure has since come down to 12, with several big players in the mix.
The deadline, which ended on Sunday after a two-week extension over the previous date of September two, allowed the firms to finalise their bids, according to the country's telecom regulatory body, ictQATAR.
The 12 firms are Airtel, Reliance Telecom Verizon Argos, AT&T, Batelco, Digicel, Etisalat, Jordan Telecom, MTC (Kuwait), Orascom Telecom, Omantel-Belgacom, and Vodafone, Peninsula Daily reported on Monday.
The new entrant will have to construct its own network, as Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is assured of exclusive rights to its own networks.
According to experts, a new entrant into the country's mobile telephony sector can easily grab 15 to 20 per cent of the market share in its first year of operations, with the figures gradually rising in the ensuing years.
Although considered to be a small market, mobile phone penetration in Qatar is at way above 100 per cent with the figure growing daily.
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