ASIF IQBAL

DOHA

HUAWEI, a leading global information communication and technology (ICT) solutions provider, believes that investment in broadband in Qatar will not only benefit the telecom sector but will add to the GDP (gross domestic product) growth and employment generation, a top company official has said. “Studies suggest that the external effects of broadband investments on the GDP growth and employment generation far exceed the direct benefits to the telecom industry,” Huawei Qatar General Manager Xiao Ning told Qatar Tribune on Thursday. According to Ning, countries like Qatar are leading the way in developing broadband strategies, including the formulation of industrial policy support, subsidies and direct government investments in telecom-related areas. “But how to use such large bandwidth capacities and achieve revenue growth have become major concerns for operators, especially as they compete with new market entrants such as Internet TV and Voice-over-IP (VoIP) providers in delivering valueadded services to their endusers,” Xiao said. On the construction of broadband networks in Qatar and the challenges faced by the mobile operators, the Huawei official said, “Both public and private sector entities have taken incredible steps over the past one year to transform ICT policies and regulations to create a favourable business environment for more advanced networks.” At the same time, he said at some locations the connectivity had yet to catch up with the user demand. “Testing different 4G technologies, reaching out to end-users and encouraging local ICT skill competencies will all be essential considerations for creating strong roll-out plans for the future broadband networks,” Xiao remarked. On the sectors of the economy which would benefit most from the broadband deployments, Xiao said, “We anticipate rapid demand increase and competition for end-to-end ICT solutions within verticals such as e-government, e-learning and e-health. “Many of the current projects within these verticals will require more sophisticated broadband networks that can facilitate greater data sharing and storage not only within the country, but with partners across the global. Although 4G services are still in the early stages, the outcome of the testing conducted in the past several months and the support on the national level have been quite encouraging,” Xiao said.