The average residential broadband prices in Qatar are the lowest in the GCC, a major independent survey found. International management consulting firm Arthur D Little has confirmed that Qatar currently offers broadband prices that are between 10 percent and 23 percent lower than that of the average of other GCC nations. The study provides one of the clearest indications yet of the progress of the “Broadband Qatar” strategy, which aims to provide affordable, high speed internet connectivity to as many people as possible in Qatar. Arthur D Little’s research is being factored into the technical and service blueprint for the Broadband Qatar strategy. As well as the data on pricing, the study also mapped out some of the physical and technological challenges currently facing Qatar. “Qatar is making very important steps towards its goal of providing high speed broadband to residents and businesses at affordable rates,” said Thomas Kuruvilla, Managing Director, Arthur D Little Middle East. Karim Taga, who leads Arthur D Little’s technology economics competence centre, explained: “There are some geographical and technical challenges facing Qatar in its ambitions for broadband. As a small nation with a concentrated population, there is a physical limit to the number of base stations and sites that can be established to support the service. However, with the clear strategy Qtel has in place, and the progress made so far, it is well positioned for ongoing development.” As the major provider of internet services in Qatar, Qtel has continued to provide a range of improvements and enhancements in recent months. In addition to keeping the costs for broadband access as affordable as possible, it has offered upgrades including enhancing the barQ ADSL email storage free of charge in October. At the same time, Qtel reduced additional data download charges for its mobile broadband service by 90 percent. http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/Display_news.asp?section=Local_News&subsection=Qatar+News&month=November2008&file=Local_News2008112533446.xml

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