Qatar Telecom said it has assigned a dedicated team to provide support to Qatalum which is developing the world’s largest aluminium smelter in Mesaieed Industrial City.

One of Qatar’s most important industrial projects, the Qatalum plant, a joint venture by Qatar Petroleum and Hydro, will have a capacity in the first phase of 585,000 tonnes of primary aluminium, supported by a dedicated power plant with a capacity of 1,350 MW to ensure a stable electricity supply.

Given the site’s remote location and the need to stay fully connected with contractors, employees and the project management team, the Qtel's business solutions department (QBS) has developed a two-stage implementation process.

The team would first provide for robust communication systems during the development phase, and then ensure that the completed Qatalum plant and power station benefited from one of the most advanced communication networks in the industry.

Hassan Al-Rashid, deputy CEO, Qatalum, said: 'The development process for Qatalum has been a significant challenge, which required high levels of technical expertise and ongoing support from some of the world’s leading contractors.'

'In order to have round-the-clock access to these resources, and to ensure rapid, secure delivery of the information that we needed to make the project a success, we required a highly-capable, world-class communications partner like Qtel,' he added.

'On November 19, 2007 the foundation stone was laid and construction work started on the site. No industrial activities had previously been undertaken in the area, which meant that there was no existing infrastructure in place, apart from an overhead power transmission line,' he explained.

A specialist team from Qtel Business Solutions, began working with the project team in March 2008, to help develop a full international communications network that could operate from a hub in the Mesaieed area.

The development team for Qatalum includes contractors and specialists from around the world, and the construction process requires blueprints and diagrams to be sent securely in high volume, so the quality and speed of the network was critically important, Al Rashid said.

In addition, the virtual project team uses a range of online systems connected to different workstations around the world.

“The Qtel Business Solutions team immediately understood the scale and challenges of our project, and developed a communication solution that was scalable and capable of expanding to match the scope required for the world’s largest aluminium smelter,” said Geir Slotte, IS co-ordinator, Qatalum project.

As a final challenge, the project team would continue to grow throughout 2008, from an initial survey team, through to more than one thousand on-site specialists, each requiring workstations and phone-lines.

Khalid Abdulla Al-Mansouri, executive director of Business Solutions, Qtel, said: 'Qtel has a long track record of working with major development projects from initial execution through to the go-live stage.'

'What is changing is that, as Qatar continues to increase its investment in strategically and internationally significant industrial and commercial projects, the scale and dimensions of the communication requirements are increasing exponentially,' he added.

“For Qatalum, our team of specialists were able to develop a full implementation process which would take them from providing for the needs of the initial project team, right through to the operational requirements of the world’s largest aluminium smelter.”

QBS began work to develop the full communication network for the completed plant, including a secure IP network and telecommunication system.

Once the plant is up and running, it will require over 1,000 permanent staff and have its own dedicated port and housing for up t