A Comparative View of 4G, FTTx, and 5G Plans in Qatar

A Comparative View of 4G, FTTx, and 5G Plans in Qatar

The economic development pillar of Qatar National Vision 2030 stresses the importance of creating a competitive and diversified economy that provides high living standards. Triggered by this vision, the Qatari government has embarked on a digital transformation journey and attracted major investments from hyperscale datacenter providers. Additionally, Qatar — being the host of the FIFA World Cup 2022 — presents technology solution providers, including telecom operators, with massive opportunities. Qatar has one of the highest fiber penetrations in the world and is one of the early participants of the 5G economy. These facts can be leveraged to deliver more value-added services for businesses and consumers and drive the growth of Qatar's digital economy. This IDC Market Perspective presents a comparative view of Qatar telecom operators’ data-only tariff plans and Qatar’s position in relation to those offerings in other 5G-live countries — Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and South Africa. IDC has calculated the median values of the monthly plan prices, gigabyte prices, and data usage limits for 4G, 5G, and fiber to the "x" (FTTx) data plans. The report compares these Qatar plans with the combined median values of plans across the region. Each country included in this research is covered in a separate study."Mobile operators in Qatar have already introduced high-speed 5G services for both the consumer and business segments. 5G plans for businesses have very high data limits, which indicates that business customers have a large appetite for such services. Operators can further monetize their 5G infrastructure by introducing more innovative services that can be leveraged by digital enterprises and consumers during mass events like the World Cup. Such services would also serve the diversification goals of the country as they can be leveraged by SMBs. Given that Qatar has one of the most extensive fiber network infrastructures in the world, operators in the country should design their 5G and FTTx consumer and business plans in ways that complement each other. Doing so would prevent existing offerings from cannibalizing each other.” — Associate Research Director, Melih Murat

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