DOHA: Qatar's biggest phone company pledged Tuesday to shut down a cellular service it operates under Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile brand to comply with a ruling by the country's telecoms regulator. The move will likely lay to rest a nearly yearlong dispute between Qatar Telecom, which goes by the name Qtel, and its rival Vodafone Qatar. Vodafone had challenged Qtel's rollout of Virgin Mobile shortly after its launch as an unfair expansion of mobile services in the booming gas-rich nation. Qatar's telecommunications regulator ictQATAR ordered Virgin Mobile shut after determining that Qtel's marketing of the brand was misleading. It also found that Qtel engaged in anticompetitive behavior, abused its dominant position in the market and had failed to comply with previous regulatory demands. Qtel said it will comply fully with the order to close Virgin Mobile, according to a statement Tuesday to Qatar's stock exchange. Qtel plans to switch its Virgin customers to another service it offers, forcing users to swap out their SIM cards or seek refunds for existing prepaid balances on their phones by Aug. 4. Virgin did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday. State-controlled Qtel had a monopoly on Qatari phone services until Britain's Vodafone entered the market in 2009 after paying more than $2 billion for an operating license. Vodafone Group PLC holds a minority stake in Vodafone Qatar, with the remainder split between the Qatari government and individual shareholders.
