Qatar’s Mobile Broadband Speeds to Double with Major Infrastructure Upgrade

Doha, Qatar, December 01, 2008

Nokia Siemens Networks’ US$61 million Agreement with Qtel Contributes to Realization of Ongoing Strategy to Deliver World-Class Communication

Qatar Telecom QSC (“Qtel”, Ticker: QTEL.QA), the leading telecommunications company, took another important stride towards delivering the highest standard of communications infrastructure today, with the completion of an agreement to implement a full network modernization project that will double mobile broadband speeds in Qatar.

As a strategic partner, Nokia Siemens Networks is modernizing and optimizing Qtel’s pioneering nationwide 2G and 3G networks, providing an advanced network infrastructure based on the company’s “future-proof” solutions.

His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah Bin Mohammed Bin Saud Al-Thani, Chairman of Qtel, said: “Today’s announcement of this significant upgrade to Qatar’s mobile network infrastructure brings us an important step closer to the realization of our vision to deliver the world’s most advanced communication solutions to everyone in Qatar. We will work with Nokia Siemens Networks to ensure that the highest quality of experience and the latest services are made available for our customers.”

As part of the agreement, Nokia Siemens Networks is deploying an energy-efficient radio access solution, based on a Flexi Base Station, that will offer very significant power consumption savings to Qtel. These savings will help reduce the environmental impact of the ongoing growth of Qatar’s communication infrastructure, by increasing energy savings, in-line with Qtel’s strategy for enhanced corporate social responsibility.

Nokia Siemens Networks is also providing technical and business consultancy, site preparation, field activities and network operations support. It is implementing a state-of-the-art infrastructure roll-out process, built upon a circuit-switch core network capacity expansion and a packet core network swap based on the Flexi ISN solution for optimized data traffic.

These services will ensure a seamless upgrade for everyone in Qatar, providing uninterrupted and enhanced mobile broadband service, as well as enabling Qtel to continue to deliver its range of product enhancements and upgrades to customers across Qatar.

Commenting on this deal, which extends the strong relationship with Qtel that started in 1994, Christoph Caselitz, Chief Market Operations Officer, Nokia Siemens Networks said: “This is an important deal for us as it strengthens our collaboration and commitments with an industry leader such as Qtel.”

“As a significant regional operator, with tremendous expansion potential, Qtel is one of our key customers. We are very pleased that it has recognized Nokia Siemens Networks as a reliable supplier, and we’re ready to offer our best-in-class technologies in line with Qtel’s long-term plans to provide superior quality to their customers,” added Qais Esrawee, Head of the “Qtel group” Customer Business Team for Nokia Siemens Networks.

Qtel’s network continues to be supported by the multivendor, multi-technology NetAct network and service management solution. Nokia Siemens Networks will also provide Qtel with NetAct Global Reporter for collecting, processing and visualizing network performance information, and NetAct Optimizer for enhancing service quality for Qtel customers and increasing efficiency of the optimization processes.

About Nokia Siemens Networks

Nokia Siemens Networks is a leading global enabler of communications services. The company provides a complete, well-balanced product portfolio of mobile and fixed network infrastructure solutions and addresses the growing demand for services with 20,000 service professionals worldwide. Nokia Siemens Networks is one of the largest telecommunications infrastructure companies with operations in 150 countries. The company is headquartered in Espoo, Finland. www.nokiasiemensnetworks.com

About Qtel

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) is the telecommunications service provider licensed by the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR) to provide both fixed and mobile telecommunications services in the state of Qatar. We have a presence in 16 countries and we are committed to expansion both in the MENA region and South East Asia. Our vision is to be among the top 20 telecommunications companies in the world by 2020.

Media Enquiries

Nokia Siemens Networks
Nada Chammas
External Communications, Middle East and Africa
Tel: +971 50 450 85 59
E-mail : nada [dot] chammas [at] nsn [dot] com">nada [dot] chammas [at] nsn [dot] com

Qtel
Edward Barnfield
Wallis Marketing Consultants, Qatar
Tel: +974 440 4830
E-mail: ebarnfield [at] qtel [dot] com [dot] qa">ebarnfield [at] qtel [dot] com [dot] qa