In 2019 we bolstered the power of our network and services. Our continued investment demonstrates our commitment to building world-class infrastructure to keep Qatar in the ranks of the world’s most connected countries.

Since switching on our 5G network over a year ago, we have streamlined our focus on solutions and technologies that enhance our customers’ experience and brought a series of ‘firsts’ in the local market. We set new standards for the industry and invited the nation to “Be Unstoppable”, a digital journey into the unlimited power of 5G technology. We have made 5G connectivity available to more people, and in more homes and offices, through our market-leading plans and services.

We strive to keep the customer at the heart of our business. As part of this commitment, we developed a suite of products and solutions to help people achieve their digital lifestyle aspirations. We have enriched the customer’s digital experience in partnership with WAVO, OSN, Anghami, Talabat, ENTERTAINER, Shop & Ship, and Careem.

All of our initiatives seek to simplify and enhance the customer journey by providing best-in-class digital services to the market. This includes enabling Postpaid and Prepaid users to enjoy worry-free internet usage on our 5G Unlimited Plans and reducing a large number of recharge card variations in our Prepaid portfolio to one simple card. The new multi-function card creates a more dynamic user experience supported by the My Vodafone App.

Brand highlights for 2019 include:

Retail footprint and experience

Leading in retail means efficiently expanding our footprint to be closer to our customers and being strategically present across the country. Today, we have 30 retail stores across Qatar and we continue to expand. This year we opened a new store at Hamad International Airport to serve the tourist market. Each one of our stores takes customers on a branded journey where they experience the convenience, transparency, simplicity and speed of using Vodafone.

We significantly improved features of our store model to deliver the best possible advice and a higher level of customer service. We have also empowered our retail agents with a centralised platform that provides a 360° view of the customer profile. The platform has improved the seamless delivery of service, while protecting customer data and privacy. In-store customers receive tokens through a queuing mechanism, which further enhances the customers’ experience by reducing waiting time.  In the year ahead we plan to provide OmniChannel experience, enabling customers to access services in-person or online via a range of new digital platforms.

Work to better understand our customers in 2019 focused on two core initiatives. These were:

1. Growing Vodafone mini stores: We opened Vodafone mini stores at 40 locations across Qatar, and plan to expand our footprint to include more locations in the near future. Vodafone mini stores are fully branded and have advisors to assist customers and offer the following services: Postpaid, Prepaid & MBB plans, MNP, migrations, SIM swap, and bill payments.
2. Expanding mass market availability of Vodafone services: We now have 400 mass-market outlets doing post-purchase sales to customers. Electronic top-up recharge outlets reached the 1500 outlet mark this year. Vodafone customers can now make Postpaid bill payments in these 1500 outlets through the dealer app.

Big Data and advanced analytics are evolving rapidly globally and Vodafone Qatar is at the cutting edge of this evolution. We are committed to the idea that our customers and Qatar in general should be able to access all the benefits and opportunities that this new technology has to offer.

We have invested in the systems, processes and people required to ensure that we are bringing the benefits of the Big Data revolution to our consumer and enterprise customers, and harnessing new computing power to optimise their experience in all their interactions with us.

In Q4 2019 we updated our privacy policy to ensure we remain at the forefront of data security, and respect for the privacy and confidentiality of our user communications. Vodafone Qatar is committed to exceeding customer expectations in this area and strives to meet our legal obligations to protect and secure customer data. We place the highest possible value on this aspect of our business.

We are committed to providing both government and private sector client’s access to all of the commercial benefits of Big Data-enabled insights and understanding. We know that these insights will enable public and private sector clients to improve profitability, efficiency and the quality of service delivery in Qatar. This benefits all of our stakeholders.

Customer experience is the key differentiator in competitive telecoms markets. Our CARE programme continued to be the key focus for differentiated customer experience during 2019. With CARE, we ensure our customers are Confidently connected, Always receive excellent service and are Rewarded for their continued loyalty, and that they can Easily access all channels.

Our experience transformation initiatives under the four pillars of CARE focus on deepening digital customer engagement, accelerating digital transformation, radically simplifying our operational process, generating better returns from our assets by using advanced digital technologies to create incremental growth in revenues with a continuous focus on reducing net operating costs.

Qatar was the first market in the Vodafone group to launch the new enhanced version of the My Vodafone App, which was well received by our customers. The new app was designed to support customers to manage their current Vodafone products and services whilst discovering more of what they want in a safer and better-connected app ecosystem. As a result of the successful launch, more than 32% of customers have started to engage our digital channels for customer services, payment, recharges and the upgrade of existing plans.

In 2020, we will continue to accelerate our digital transformation journey with a strong focus on enhancing our customer experience. In the year ahead, our customers will benefit from more advanced technology usage, simple processes to provide predictive, proactive and personalised offers.

We are committed to enabling business success in a changing digital world. In 2018, we made major investments in upgrading our networks and IT systems that showed just how exciting business with Vodafone can be. This year we:
 
Launched 5G to propel Qatar’s economic growth and give businesses access to the latest 5G technology. We are proud to have had the privilege to be the first operator in Qatar to connect an enterprise customer to 5G network and also to cover 70% of Doha with 5G.
 
Expanded our fibre network to reach more business customers and allow them to connect their people, places and things through a resilient & secure network.
 
Coverage expansion. In 2019 we deployed 53 active mobile sites.
 
Modernised our Voice Core Network to improve voice quality and reliability for customers with our cloud infrastructure.

In 2019 we continued to build customer trust and loyalty with our enterprise customers. Notable milestones for the year included the:

Expansion of our Fibre footprint to different areas allowing us to connect a higher number of businesses than the previous year. Our state of the art high-speed fibre is now connecting a vast number of organisations across Qatar that are now able to optimize, automate and innovate using Vodafone’s GigaNet Fibre.

Launch of our 5G network with ultra-high-speed connectivity covering 70% of Doha. We introduced new GigaBusiness 5G plans that offer unlimited data with speeds up to 1Gbps, and we were the first company to provide Hamad International Airport with 5G connectivity.

Extension of our Internet of Things (IoT) leadership position to include the country’s first Narrowband-IoT (NB-IoT) Network. NB-IoT enables our customers to run Smart City applications including power and water utilities software, smart building monitors, healthcare and agriculture applications.

Strengthening of our mobile propositions with new Unlimited 5G plans. These plans empower our customers to be unstoppable in running their businesses, with unlimited data, calls, SMS including competitive roaming benefits fit for business.

Introduction of Mobile Satellite as an advanced service to our customers. As part of guaranteeing seamless connectivity and business solutions, our customers are now able to communicate through voice or data from any remote location in the world.

Announcement of our partnership with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), in order to jointly deliver an innovation roadmap for Government entities and Enterprises and further expand the adoption of new generation technologies that are able to support applications for smart cities, connected industries and others.

Our people are behind every aspect of our success as a company. Together, we are committed to delivering superior network performance, an outstanding customer experience and contributing to the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Vodafone Way underpins our culture and purpose. At its centre is a focus on three core principles: speed, simplicity and trust. We want our people to respond swiftly and effectively to challenges and opportunities, especially those that affect our customers. Avoiding unnecessary bureaucracy and costly and cumbersome internal processes is a priority. Our culture ensures business activities and decisions recognize the importance of earning and retaining the trust of our customers, employees and stakeholders.

Our leaders foster a culture where communication, teamwork and trust come together to enable great outcomes. We strongly believe that this culture will drive innovation and create a better today and tomorrow which we seek for our employees and customers.