Telecommunications in Qatar
Template:Short description Telephones - main lines in use: 327,000 (2012)<ref name="factbook"/>
Telephones - mobile cellular: 2,600,000 (2012)<ref name="factbook"/>
Telephone system:
modern system centered in Doha
domestic:
NA
international:
tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and UAE; submarine cable to Bahrain and UAE; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat
Radio broadcast stations: AM 6, FM 5, shortwave 1 (1998)<ref name="factbook"/>
Radios: 256,000 (1997)
Television broadcast stations: 1 (plus three repeaters) (1997)<ref name="factbook"/>
Televisions: 230,000 (1997)
Historical development
Satellite communications
In 1977, Qatar commissioned its first satellite earth station, located about Template:Convert west of Doha, at a cost of approximately QR 20 million. The facility featured a 270-ton antenna linked to the Indian Ocean satellite, enabling global multi-hop communication. This provided capacity for 30 international telephone circuits, supported 5,000 simultaneous calls, and transmitted two color television channels.<ref name="qnb">Template:Cite web</ref>
Telex and telephone network expansion
An automated telex exchange was introduced in 1976, with Doha transmitting about 380,000 messages the year prior. In 1977, a QR 21 million expansion contract was awarded to increase Doha's central telephone exchange capacity to 16,200 lines, with construction of 11 rural exchanges. Once completed, the network was expected to support 30,000 lines nationwide.<ref name="qnb"/>
Internet
Template:Main As of 2015, there are two ISPs in Qatar: Ooredoo (formerly Q-Tel) and Vodafone Qatar.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> There were 563,800 internet users in 2009.<ref name="factbook">Template:Cite web</ref> The country code (top level domain) is QA. ADSL was launched in 2002 in Qatar by Ooredoo. There were 25,000 ADSL users in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
A 2015 report by the UN Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development ranked Qatar in first place among the developing countries by their respective percentage population using internet. The country also ranked second globally for percentage of households with internet.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
5G
As of February 2023, 5G coverage in Qatar is at 70%.Template:Cn Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar, the two major mobile operators in Qatar, have both announced plans to expand their 5G networks to cover the entire country by the end of 2023.Template:Cn The bandwidth of a 5G network in Qatar can be up to 100 MHz in frequency range 1 (FR1: 450 MHz to 6 GHz).Template:Cn
5G is expected to have a major impact on the economy of Qatar. It is expected to boost the country's GDP by $16 billion by 2025 and create over 100,000 jobs.Template:Cn
See also
References
Template:Qatar topics Template:Asia topic Template:Telecommunications