Skip to content Skip to Search
Skip navigation

Qatar issues licence to Elon Musk’s satellite broadband firm

By Pramod Kumar
QNA
The licence will allow Starlink to offer backup communications in Qatar in the event of a major outage in telecommunications networks.

Qatar’s telecom watchdog Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA) has issued an individual licence to Starlink Satellite Qatar, state-owned QNA reported.

The licence authorises US-based Starlink’s Qatar unit to provide satellite broadband Internet services to individuals and enterprises via the low-earth orbit satellite constellation of SpaceX.

Starlink will provide direct-to-consumer satellite Internet and premium services, targeting businesses and high-demand users.

The regulator said that the licence granted to Starlink will enhance the availability of telecommunications services in remote locations, such as oil and gas platforms at sea, ships, and aircraft, as well as provide backup communications throughout the Gulf nation in the event of a major outage in telecommunications networks.

FIFA World Cup 2022 Qatar is set to begin on November 20 this year.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last week said he would activate the firm’s satellite internet service, Starlink, in response to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s tweet that the United States took action “to advance internet freedom and the free flow of information” to Iranians.

Latest articles

Kuwaiti logistics company Agility Public Warehousing has paid out nearly KD9 million ($29.2 million) over the disputed lease

Kuwait’s Agility pays out $30m over scrap site dispute

Kuwaiti logistics company Agility Public Warehousing has paid out nearly KD9 million ($29.2 million) after losing a 2021 court case over leasing a plot of land in Kuwait used as a scrap site. “With this payment, the company will have fully executed the aforementioned ruling in favour of the Public Authority for Industry,” Agility said […]

The Rolls Building in London, where high-value commercial cases are heard. The Kuwait pension fund trial is expected to last one year

Kuwait pension fund’s $1bn lawsuit begins in London

Kuwait’s public pension fund has accused asset manager Man Group, Swiss bank EFG and others of laundering bribes paid to its late director as a $1 billion trial begins at London’s High Court. The Public Institution for Social Security, which operates Kuwait’s social security and pension scheme, is also suing the estate of Fahad Al Rajaan, its director from 1984 to […]

Men at the Kuwait City souq. Kuwait last sold dollar-denominated bonds in 2017

Kuwait gets closer to tapping debt markets to fund infrastructure

Kuwait has moved a step closer to selling debt on the international markets again after the cabinet approved a draft decree that should help the country fund multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects. Historically the country has had little need to borrow thanks to its oil revenue and relatively unambitious spending plans. Kuwait last sold dollar-denominated bonds in […]

An egg farm in Brazil. Saudi Arabia wants to reduce its reliance on imported foods

Entaj share price rises 30% in first day on Tadawul

The share price of poultry producer Entaj has risen by 30 percent on its first day of trading, the maximum daily increase allowed on the Saudi stock exchange. Entaj – formally known as the Arabian Company for Agricultural and Industrial Investment – is the fourth company to list on Saudi Arabia’s main market this year. […]

Shareholders in Borouge are due to vote on a proposed dividend and 2.5 percent share buyback on April 7

Borouge proposes share buyback after merger stock slide

Abu Dhabi petrochemicals company Borouge will seek shareholder approval to buy back up to 2.5 percent of its shares, it said on Monday, after its share price plunged on this month’s news of its merger deal with Austria’s Borealis.  Borouge’s majority shareholder Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) and Austria’s OMV said they had agreed to merge […]

Kingdom Holding Company owner Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, pictured last year at Riyadh's Kingdom Arena

Kingdom Holding to pay 2024 dividend despite revenue drop

Kingdom Holding Company (KHC), the conglomerate owned by Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal, will pay an annual dividend despite a fall in revenues for 2024. The dividend payout will reach SAR1 billion ($267 million), or 2.8 percent of its capital, the investment company said in a statement to the Saudi stock exchange on Monday. […]

Workers use an excavator at the Faw port project site in Faw, in the southern province of Basra, January 6, 2016. REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani

Iraq’s long delayed Faw port nears completion

Iraq’s long-delayed redevelopment and construction of its Faw port near the Arabian Gulf will be completed this year, the Iraq state news agency reported, paving the way for improved access for goods to Iraq and beyond. South Korea’s Daewoo won a $2.6 billion contract to build five main piers at the port in 2010 and […]

Riyadh Air CEO Tony Douglas

Riyadh Air seeks tie-up with Indian carriers

Saudi Arabia’s newest airline Riyadh Air is exploring potential tie-ups with Indian carriers IndiGo and Air India, CEO Tony Douglas has said. The conversations are at an early stage but offer a “win-win” proposition, he told The Indian Express news daily. India is a “super important” market, Douglas said, as Saudi Arabia expects India to […]

Inflation in Lebanon rose to more than 300% last year, according to the World Bank

Economy in Lebanon remains severely depressed, IMF says

The Lebanese economy remains severely depressed, its condition exacerbated by a two-month war last year between the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group and Israel, in which infrastructure and homes were destroyed, the International Monetary Fund has said. An IMF team visited the country last week and met the new government led by President Joseph Aoun and […]

Jazeera Airways CEO Barathan Pasupathi bought roughly $250,000 worth of shares in the airline

Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways CEO buys shares in his own airline

The CEO of Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways has bought 80,000 shares in his own company as the airline embarks on a five-year plan to boost performance. Barathan Pasupathi purchased the shares between March 9 and 13, according to company disclosures on the Kuwaiti Bourse, buying shares worth $250,000 in a series of transactions last week. Shares […]

S&P Saudi Arabia

S&P raises Saudi Arabia’s rating 0ver ongoing reforms

S&P Global Ratings has upgraded Saudi Arabia’s rating to “A+” from “A” with a stable outlook, citing socioeconomic and capital market reforms. Strong non-oil growth and rising oil volumes from 2025 will support medium-term growth prospects, it said. Saudi Arabia’s National Debt Management Centre welcomed the upgrade, saying it would allow the kingdom to issue […]

Mubadala has oil and gas investments in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Oman

Adnoc targets Mubadala’s energy assets

State-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc) is reportedly considering acquiring the energy assets of Mubadala Investment Company, one of the emirate’s sovereign wealth funds. Talks between the two companies, which stalled over valuation, are expected to resume soon, possibly after the end of Ramadan, Bloomberg reported, citing informed sources. The deal was previously valued […]