Vodafone Qatar and the Qatar National Broadband Network (Qnbn) have brought high-speed Internet connectivity to some 32 business and residential towers in West Bay, as part of a phased roll-out of broadband fibre optic infrastructure.
The high-rises, including Al Wosail Tower, Tornado Tower, and Alfardan Towers, house local and international businesses, ranging from SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) to large corporations that will receive a major boost from the high speed fibre optic network.
The users in the towers gain access to improved ICT (information and communications technology) facilities delivering advanced voice telephony, high-definition video conferencing capabilities, customer management, stock and inventory control, knowledge management, backup and storage of data through faster, more efficient and effective connections, and will support the latest productivity applications, services and content for business and cloud computing.
For enterprise customers, Vodafone has a business services portfolio ranging from Internet access to VPN (virtual private network) and leased lines that will utilise Vodafone’s cutting edge technology and Qnbn’s fibre connectivity, offering speeds up to 100 Gbps.
Vodafone Qatar business services director Niraj Singh said: “This partnership signifies a great milestone in Qatar – the first of many that we plan to deliver with our esteemed partners at Qnbn.
“We are delighted to be part of innovating Qatar, and it is excellent news that we are announcing phase one of the fixed connectivity roll-out plan with the announcement of some 32 mixed-use towers in the West Bay, offering faster communication and much needed choice for both business and consumers.”
Qnbn and Vodafone Qatar have been working in close partnership to enable the use of Qnbn’s network to deliver advanced telecommunications services to customers.
Qnbn chief commercial officer Mohamed Madhoun said: “We are delighted to jointly deliver our services to our first enterprise client. In line with the Qatar ICT Strategy 2015, our efforts to transform Qatar’s ICT landscape with high-speed Internet connection in partnership with Vodafone has achieved yet another milestone, following the ‘lighting-up’ of our fibre network to Vodafone’s Al Safwa Centre in the Alfardan Tower, earlier this June.
“This day is particularly significant as the success of our private-public partnership. By providing passive dark fiber network infrastructure, we are providing equal and open access to service providers such as Vodafone to jointly deliver on connecting not just West Bay but the whole of Qatar.”
Vodafone has a presence in some 80 countries and is connected by more than 1mn km of fibre optic cabling. It is working with partners such as Qnbn in building a cutting edge IP (Internet protocol)-based network with converged mobile and fixed platforms that will provide world class security and performance through an alternative national fibre-based access network.