The Qtel Group, the leading telecom services provider in Qatar, has sealed a strategic partnership agreement with ZTE, an emerging leader in telecommunications solutions.

The agreement was signed on the third day of the GSMA Mobile World Congress being held in Barcelona, Spain.

The partnership will make available new network solutions from ZTE, including the latest innovations in WCDMA and LTE technology, across Qtel Group operations in the Mena and Asia region, said a senior official.

Through this deal, Qtel Group and ZTE are agreeing to long-term and sustainable pricing models which will offer significant benefits for customers across the Group’s companies, which include Indosat, Asiacell, Wataniya, Kuwait, Nawras, Tunisiana, Nedjma and Qtel, remarked Dr Nasser Marafih, the CEO of Qtel Group.

'ZTE is a supplier with huge ambitions for global growth, and a delivery and pricing model that is designed to ensure success.'

'The Qtel believes that it can derive significant, long-term value from a strategic frame agreement with ZTE, which promises to deliver world-class technology that is priced to reflect the realities of a new global economy,' he remarked.

One of the components of Qtel’s strategy for tackling the changes affecting the communications sector is to improve cost optimisation.

Frame agreements with major companies like ZTE provide the necessary infrastructure foundations for its pursuit of this goal.

Shi Lirong, the CEO of ZTE Corporation, said: “With its focus on innovative technology and competitive cost, ZTE is a strong partner for the Qtel Group’s plan for continued investment in new technologies and businesses, particularly in emerging markets across the Middle East and South Asia.”

'Qtel has grown rapidly in recent years, from a one-country operator serving its home nation of Qatar to an international communications company serving an addressable population of more than 660 million people in the Mena, Asian Subcontinent and South-East Asia,' he added.-TradeArabia News Service