Qatar Communications - 2024

Telephones - fixed lines

total subscriptions: 523,765 (2022 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 17 (2021 est.)

Telephones - mobile cellular

total subscriptions: 3,876,499 (2021 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 144 (2021 est.)

Telecommunication systems

general assessment: Qatar had developed a mature telecom sector which has been able to absorb the additional data demands made on it during the pandemic; mobile services based on LTE are universally available to migrate to 5G; in combination with a strong fiber rollout, the country is aiming to provide gigabit services nationally; 5G services are largely based on 3.5GHz spectrum made available following an auction in early 2019 (2022)

domestic: fixed-line is 17 per 100 and mobile-cellular telephone subscribership is 144 telephones per 100 persons (2021)

international: country code - 974; landing points for the Qatar-UAE Submarine Cable System, AAE-1, FOG, GBICS/East North Africa MENA and the FALCON submarine cable network that provides links to Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Southeast Asia; tropospheric scatter to Bahrain; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia and the UAE; satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (1 Atlantic Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat; retains full ownership of two commercial satellites, Es'hailSat 1 and 2 (2019)

Broadcast media

TV and radio broadcast licensing and access to local media markets are state controlled; home of the satellite TV channel Al-Jazeera, which was originally owned and financed by the Qatari government but has evolved to independent corporate status; Al-Jazeera claims editorial independence in broadcasting; local radio transmissions include state, private, and international broadcasters on FM frequencies in Doha; in August 2013, Qatar's satellite company Es'hailSat launched its first communications satellite Es'hail 1 (manufactured in the US), which entered commercial service in December 2013 to provide improved television broadcasting capability and expand availability of voice and Internet; Es'hailSat launched its second commercial satellite in 2018 with aid of SpaceX (2019)

Internet country code

.qa

Internet users

total: 2.7 million (2021 est.)

percent of population: 100% (2021 est.)

Broadband - fixed subscriptions

total: 296,126 (2020 est.)

subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 10 (2020 est.)