The Chief Operating Officer of Vodafone Qatar, Diego Camberos, speaking to The Peninsula, at the Vodafone office in the QSTP. Pic: Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
DOHA: As Telco operators across the world deal with over-the-top competitors and challenge their business models, Vodafone Qatar is transforming itself into a company based on its unique business and digital transformation capabilities. With customers asking for more engaging experiences, Vodafone Qatar is busy preparing Qatar for how to live digitally today and tomorrow.
“Vodafone Qatar is not a telco company anymore. We are a digital company. We are here to change the game. We do not restrict our activities just to telco; connecting people is just one part of the job that we do”, says Vodafone Qatar’s Chief Operating Officer Diego Camberos.
“It’s all about better experience, improving how we live tomorrow compared to today. Tomorrow is clearly a digital world. I hope customers have seen the transformation, especially experiencing our brand, how they feel with the brand and experience we create through different products and services,” Camberos told The Peninsula in a free-wheeling interview.
Vodafone Qatar, which announced its first-ever quarterly profits last week, has made a number of important announcements recently, including the extension of its license by another 40 years to 2068 and a reduction of share capital designed to deliver the long-term growth potential of the company.
Vodafone Qatar is now a 95 percent Qatari-owned Company after it announced Qatar Foundation’s purchase of Vodafone Group’s stake in Vodafone Qatar.
Elaborating on Vodafone Qatar’s transformational solutions, Camberos said the company, with the support of Vodafone Group’s international expertise, is set to expand its operations into various sectors in Qatar such as agriculture, insurance, smart cities as well as providing asset tracking services to the country’s businesses.
Vodafone Qatar believes communications technology is one of the most effective ways of reaching out to farmers to help them improve their productivity and livelihoods, while increasing efficiency throughout the agricultural supply chain. It is using IoT to create completely new services and transforming businesses in Qatar substantially.
Vodafone Group’s unrivalled expertise in IoT technology is giving ambitious vehicle manufacturers, insurance companies and fleets a competitive edge. “We will be translating our international experience to the local market in tracking assets, agriculture sector, insurance companies and Qatar’s emerging smart cities…..We are currently in talks with different potential partners,” Camberos said.
“We are already doing ‘fleet management’, locally today. Over 2000 cars currently running on Qatari roads are being tracked by Vodafone Qatar. We are doing it with a local partner. We will draw on this also for the agriculture sector.” In the agriculture sector, Vodafone Qatar has a solution to offer that could remotely water grass and vegetables.
“We are in talks with relevant ministries and authorities to support in developing an online platform for Qatari farmers as part of an effort to ‘digitally transform’ the agro industry. We will bring together people who can make it happen with tailor-made solutions.”
Qatar Rail is another potential partner Vodafone is looking to support with digital connectivity on a day-to-day basis. It could be ticketing, Big Data, or even communications….
“There are a series of opportunities. We need to understand what are their priorities and we can support,” he said.
Vodafone Qatar is putting more focus on B2B businesses. It believes startups are going to be the bigger growth trigger of Qatar’s non-hydrocarbon economy. The company is a natural partner with startups.
There are several Qatari startup companies looking for exposure outside Qatar.“We can bring in our global expertise to support these companies to go beyond the Qatari market and help tap into bigger markets.”
Vodafone Qatar recently supported three local startups to present their innovative ideas to global audiences in the Arch Summit 2018 in Luxembourg.
The startups were all housed in the QSTP Incubation Center, which is a technology-focused incubation programme aimed at fostering local tech entrepreneurship in Qatar.
Qatar’s fast-emerging smart cities are another potential sector Vodafone is looking for partnerships in. In April, Vodafone Qatar announced it was rolling out fibre connectivity across Qatar’s landmark developments, including The Pearl-Qatar.
This new fibre roll-out will enable the provision of so called ‘triple play’ services that combine voice, high speed internet and multimedia over IP, and which provides access to high definition TV, premium content, video on demand and home entertainment to thousands of buildings and homes on the man-made island.
An agreement signed by Vodafone Qatar and Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, again in the last month, sets the futuristic Lusail City on course to become one of the most technologically advanced and connected cities in the world.
