Qatar’s advanced infrastructure and the introduction of 5G constitute “great” opportunities for service providers to play a major role in establishing the digital economy and ensure business continuity, KPMG has said in a report.
5G in Qatar will impose speed in data and increased coverage allowing additional use-cases to emerge and giving operators the chance to play a bigger role as enabler for the digitisation of the country, KPMG said in a telecom market overview.
Qatar's telecommunication sector is shaped more by mobile services rather than fixed broadband which represents a few challenges but also huge opportunities to the service providers, where operators are becoming digital service providers combining digital service with their ability to provide the service to the customer everywhere and at any time.
“The impact of Covid-19 is putting the telecommunication sector in a challenging position, nonetheless, demands and expectations are high from both consumer and business customers allowing the communications service providers to play a major role in the sustainability of the county’s economy during these difficult days,” KPMG said.
On current and potential challenges, KPMG noted the user consumption of digital services such as eHealth, eEducation, eCommerce, etc. will have an impact on their behaviour even after the pandemic has been controlled.
However, they might turn soon into de facto conventional services if the service providers use the chance to establish digital platforms that disrupt the way we were used to, turning the short-term impact of Covid-19 into long term sustainable revenue streams.
In the short term, most of the self-isolating users are exploring digital content since their options are limited due to the restricted movement, however, short-term consumer could be turned into long-term customer in case the digital entertainment providers are able to provide competitive sticky experiences.
According to KPMG, telecommunications companies have been front and centre in the Covid-19 response efforts. As a result, there is an opportunity for Technology, Media, and Telecommunication (TMT) to emerge from this in a better position than before the crisis.
“We have seen a number of notable positive impacts across TMT such as increased demand for delivery services, video streaming, and teaming services for remote work. There is also a continued focus on new technology deployment such as AI, AR/VR, and 5G.
“Furthermore, globally, digital service providers are among few entities that are expected to boost their growth during the current circumstances, TMT service providers can ride on this wave and enhance their portfolio to not only be the enabler but also transform their business model towards more digitised services,” KPMG said.
