DOHA: Ooredoo has expressed deep disappointment with the Communications Regulatory Authority’s (CRA) decision and orders issued on September 8 this year in relation to access to its duct infrastructure. In a statement issued yesterday, the company said decision and order by the communications sector regulator include grave errors.
According to the company, the regulator has not given sufficient consideration to input or evidence it presented to the CRA. Ooredoo has been fully cooperating with the CRA and has been sharing its mobile sites with Vodafone Qatar since 2009. It opened its ducts network to QNBN in 2012 and today the majority of the QNBN network in Qatar passes through the Ooredoo network. “Ooredoo has not refused access to its network infrastructure and in its opinion, the CRA Decision and Order includes grave errors,” said Ooredoo.
The CRA inserted modifications in the final Reference Infrastructure Access Offer (RIAO) without consulting Ooredoo. Such modifications may expose our network to mismanagement and would negatively impact the quality of services that we offer to our customers, in particular government and public-critical services. “We have a duty to protect our customers and ensure service continuity. Our experience with QNBN shows that we need to be very careful in allowing third parties to utilise our networks,” it said.
The company said, the order requiring the adoption of the RIAO in its current form is not balanced and favours its competitors.
In its ruling, Ooredoo said, the CRA has not sufficiently considered QNBN’s ‘illicit’ use of Ooredoo’s infrastructure – the deliberate breach of the Infrastructure Access Agreement (IAA) referred to as ‘The Sheraton Matter’. The Sheraton Matter demonstrates that QNBN is prepared to breach the IAA – the issue that led to its partial suspension, which the CRA has ignored in its ruling.
Ooredoo’s conduct has been in accordance with the IAA and agreements on operational matters agreed by parties outside of the IAA. Unfortunately, QNBN seems unwilling to take the steps necessary to abide by the IAA. It has not adhered to mutually-agreed safeguards, so that it could rush commercial services into the market.
QNBN’s conduct has not been limited to a one-off breach of the IAA, but multiple instances that QNBN had repeatedly failed to rectify. These breaches have not been investigated by the CRA and are not mentioned in the Decision and Orders.
Ooredoo said it is happy to resume the IAA with QNBN, once QNBN rectifies its breaches. It is also happy to publish the RIAO and enter into agreements with other service providers on the basis of the RIAO, once the RIAO accords with the Law. This includes Ooredoo’s right to be fairly compensated for providing access to its infrastructure.
Ooredoo believes an underlying problem is also the lack of rigour applied by the CRA in its decision-making. It has engaged in the development of the RIAO in good faith, and was close to finalising the whole process. It was the CRA that then amended the RIAO, in a manner that appears contrary to the nation’s Law and Licenses.
Ooredoo said there is a conflict of interest in the CRA adjudicating commercial agreements relating to QNBN, which is affiliated to and ultimately operated by the CRA.
