Fibre-to-the-Home

Qtel today announced the successful completion of the first pilot project for “Fibre to the Home” (FTTH) Internet service in Qatar, which will deliver the fastest-ever broadband speeds to people across the country.

 

The pilot project, which provided the service in partnership with developers in the Mesaieed and West Bay Lagoon areas of Qatar, is now fully-functional, with customers enjoying Internet speeds of up to 50 megabits per second, with the capacity to upgrade to 100 megabits per second soon to become available.

 

Having completed this pilot stage, Qtel is now finalising a plan for national availability of FTTH services across Qatar. The delivery of FTTH will play a key role in making Qatar one of the most connected countries in the region.  

 

Fibre to the Home is a high-level technology that deploys optical fibres to provide Internet, phone and digital television directly to people’s homes. 

 

As part of the pilot project, Qtel has also developed a pioneering “Fibre to the Building” service, which will provide fibre to apartment blocks in Qatar which can be offered as a central service for all residents. The speed of Internet connection in these buildings, and the quality of telephone and digital television services, are already among the best in Qatar.

 

Khalil Al-Emadi, Executive Director, Networks, Qtel, said: “Qtel offers the most reliable network in Qatar and we aim to build on this position by embracing next generation technologies like FTTH. With the success of this pilot project and the positive feedback we have received from partners and customers in the developed areas, we are now positioned to start a large scale  rollout .”

 

In Europe, FTTH is emerging as a key technology for small nations with dynamic economies. Sweden leads the line-up of the top 10 adopters of FTTH services with more than 10% of FTTH penetration. In Asia, Japan is investing heavily, with more than 13 million FTTH-connected homes.

 

With Qtel’s support, Qatar is looking to take a lead in the region in terms of the extent of FTTH penetration and availability. Qtel is working with Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd, a leader in providing next generation telecommunications network solutions, to develop Qatar’s first FTTH network.