Qatar Telecommunications (Qtel) plans a partnership agreement with the state's sovereign wealth fund, its chairman was quoted as saying on Sunday.   

Qtel chairman Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al-Thani made the remarks in Qatari Arabic language daily El Raya.   

'We are about to sign a partnership agreement between Qtel and the Qatar Investment Authority so that we become an investment arm of the authority ... there is agreement to establish a joint company to invest and seize appropriate opportunities in telecommunications and information technology (sectors) abroad,' he said.

Qtel, which operates in 17 countries, is 55 percent owned by the ruler of Qatar, according to Reuters data.

The telco has long focused its expansion efforts on Southeast Asia, the Middle East and North Africa. It lost its monopoly in 2007 after Vodafone Qatar, a unit of Britain's Vodafone, entered the Qatari market. - Reuters