Qatar Telecom (Qtel), the leading telecom service provider in Qatar, is providing discounts on all calls made in 25 of the most popular countries for visitors from Qatar this summer.

Qtel is also slashing the roaming rate for received calls for Shahry and Hala customers, reducing the cost of connecting to anywhere in the world to QR1 ($0.27) per minute.

The reduction represents up to 56 per cent discount on the current roaming rate, and is up to 67 per cent less than its closest competitor.

The offer for Qtel’s Holiday Zone will run from May 24 through to August 24, covering the full summer season through Ramadan, a statement said.

Shahry customers who send and receive calls on the preferred partner network will benefit from substantial discounts on incoming and outgoing voice calls, SMS and MMS.

Local calls within the Holiday Zone, which includes over 39 operator networks, will cost QR2 per minute, with calls home to Qatar costing QR5 per minute. It will cost QR 1 per minute to receive a call and QR 1 to send an SMS.

Qtel has deliberately chosen destinations that are popular with residents returning home for the holidays, such as Egypt, India, the Philippines and the UK, and popular holiday destinations, such as Malaysia, the Maldives, Switzerland and Thailand.

Qtel has even included two operators from South Africa – Mobile Telephone Networks and Cell C – to provide great rates for football fans travelling to the World Cup.

Travelling with a Qtel BlackBerry or Smartphone has also been discounted within the Holiday Zone.

Wireless Data Roaming has been reduced from QR55 per megabyte to just QR15 per megabyte during the promotional period.

Shahry customers who travel within the GCC will still benefit from the great rates offered by the SmartRoamer service, which offers local calls for as little as QR1 per minute. – TradeArabia News Service