Qatar Telecom intends to pursue its rapid expansion policy to achieve its goal of becoming one of the world's top 20 telecoms companies by market capitalisation by 2020, its chairman said on Monday.
Sheikh Abdulla bin Muhammad bin Saud Al Thani told the Financial Times that QTel's buying spree will continue unabated. Its market cap has more than quadrupled to US$18 billion (€12.25 billion) from US$4billion (€2.72 billion) and its presence has grown from one country to 16 in the past three-and-a-half years.
Sheikh Abdulla was speaking hours after being appointed the chairman of commissioners of Indosat, Indonesia's second-largest mobile operator, following QTel's acquisition of a controlling 40.8% stake in the company for US$1.8 billion.
The Sheikh stressed that overseas activity does not mean that QTel will neglect its home market where Vodafone bought the licence to become the country's second mobile operator and will start operating within seven months.