March 07, 2014
Doha: The usage of internet on phones is rising sharply in Qatar reflecting that more people are now using smartphones compared to basic phones.
"We have seen 100 percent increase in the usage of data on phone compared to last year," said a senior official at Ooredoo. "We have also seen 100 percent increase in customers who have migrated from non-data plans to data plans compared to last year," he said.
Various factors are driving the increase in using internet on phones and reduction in the charges of internet data by telecom companies is one of the main reasons. Over the last few years, globally and in Qatar, telecom companies have made it cheaper for customers to use internet on phone.
For example, Ooredoo, last month, lowered the entry level for using internet for customers by launching 'ShahrySmart15' postpaid plan which allows its postpaid customers to use 100 MB data by paying QR15 per month.
Also prices of smart phones, which allow users to surf internet and make videos and audio calls, have declined over the last few years.
"I bought a smartphone around two months back. Before that I was using a basic phone because smartphones were out of my range," said Najma resident Tauseef Hussain.
"A year back I was struggling to buy a smartphone in QR500 range, but now there are lots of models available in the market in this range," he said.
Apart from falling prices of mobile handsets, introduction of new mobile apps are also leading to the rise of internet data usage. Mobile apps are software designed to run on mobile devices and help users to surf internet and make audio calls and video calls at cheaper rates.
© The Peninsula 2014
