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Ooredoo

Telecoms

Ooredoo Overview

Ooredoo is a multinational telecommunications company based in Doha, Qatar.

Established as Qtel Group, Qatar Public Telecommunications Corporation in 1987, in 2013 the group was rebranded as Ooredoo.

Ooredoo provides mobile, wireless, wire line and content services. It operates in domestic and international telecommunication markets, offering business and residential services.

One of the world’s largest mobile telecommunications companies, Ooredoo was the first operator globally to launch commercial 5G services in Qatar.

In 2021 it had more than 121 million customers worldwide. The company reported revenues of US$6.4 billion in 2023.

Ooredoo operates across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia: Algeria, Indonesia, Iraq, Kuwait, Maldives, Oman, Palestine, Qatar and Tunisia.

Ooredoo is 68% owned by Qatar government related entities, 10% owned by the UAE’s ADIA and the remaining 22% is publicly traded.

In October 2023 Ooredoo, Kuwait’s Zain Group and the UAE’s TASC Towers Holding signed agreements to create the largest tower company in the Middle East and North Africa, to be valued at $2.2 billion.

The company is spending $1.1 billion over 2024-26 on upgrading its mobile coverage and quality of services in key overseas markets including Algeria, Tunisia, Gaza and the West Bank, Iraq and the Maldives.

Shares are listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Ooredoo News

Architecture, Building, Cityscape

Qatar replaces chief of its $510bn sovereign fund

The Qatari government has appointed Mohammed Al Sowaidi to lead its $510 billion Qatar Investment Authority (QIA). He replaces Mansoor Al Mahmoud who had headed the sovereign wealth fund since 2018. Al Sowaidi joined the fund in 2010 and worked as the Americas region’s chief investment officer. The QIA, set up in 2005, manages revenues […]

Nvidia shares Jensen Huang

Sales of Nvidia stock soar in UAE in record rally

As Nvidia’s stock market value hit $3.65 trillion on Thursday to make it the world’s most valuable company, so shares are in hot demand among retail investors in the Gulf.  The Californian chipmaker overtook Apple, which previously held the record for the highest closing market capitalisation at $3.57 trillion on October 21. “It’s our most […]

Sainsbury's has the second-largest share of the UK grocery market, at 15 percent, behind Tesco at 28 percent

Qatar to reduce stake in UK supermarket Sainsbury’s

Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund is selling part of its 15 percent stake in the British supermarket Sainsbury’s as the fund pushes ahead with expansion in the United States and Asia, particularly China and India. Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), the biggest shareholder in Sainsbury’s, is selling £306 million ($399 million) worth of shares in the retailer, […]

Ooredoo will use the net proceeds from the bond sale for general corporate purposes, including refinancing its existing debt

Ooredoo’s $500m bond oversubscribed more than 3 times

Qatar telecom company Ooredoo has raised $500 million from a bond sale as part of its $5 billion global fund-raising initiative. The 10-year unsecured bonds, issued by Ooredoo International Finance Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary, are listed on the Irish Stock Exchange. Priced with an annual coupon rate of 4.625 percent, the bonds achieved a […]

Ooredoo and bank executives at the signing ceremony

Ooredoo secures $552m loan for data centre expansion

Qatar’s telecom major Ooredoo has secured a QR2 billion ($552 million) financing deal to accelerate the development of its data centres and artificial intelligence (AI) ventures. The 10-year hybrid facility, comprising both commercial and Islamic tranches, was provided by Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank and Masraf Al Rayan. The company claimed this is the “largest […]

QIA is exploring investment opportunities, including carve-outs among conglomerates and take-private deals in Japan

QIA looks at investments in Australia and Asia

Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is looking at expanding into Australia, South Korea and Southeast Asia as part of its growth strategy, a senior fund official has said. The sovereign fund is starting to hire locally in Australia and South Korea, Abdulla Ali Al-Kuwari, head of Asia Pacific at QIA Advisory, told a panel at the […]

Ooredoo Myanmar Qatar

Myanmar venture proves a big loss for Qatar’s Ooredoo

Qatar’s Ooredoo sold its Myanmar mobile network for even less than it originally agreed, new figures reveal, as one expert suggested its multi-billion-dollar losses may also be higher than previously estimated. The new figures in the telecom operator’s latest financial statement shed further light on a market that was once touted as the last major […]

T3H791 Muslim woman talking on phone

Saudi Telecom’s share surge raises prospect of PIF stake sale

Saudi Telecom Co’s surprise dividend increase announcement has propelled its stock to a 13-month high and increased the likelihood that majority shareholder the Public Investment Fund may sell some of its stake in the former telecom monopoly. On Sunday, STC said it would pay SAR0.55 ($0.15) per share each quarter for three years starting from […]

Gone are the days when telcos could rely on merely a phone network to turn a profit

Telcos turning to tech to propel growth

Fear of market irrelevance has spurred former Gulf telecom operators such as e& to bet on providing more sophisticated, tech-based services to consumers and businesses. This strategy differs from earlier efforts to create a vast geographic footprint for their operations, which, in many cases, led Gulf telcos to nurse billion-dollar losses. E&, which is listed […]