DUBAI, Nov 30 (Reuters) - Vodafone Qatar hasscrapped its bid to buy state-owned wholesale Internet providerQatar National Broadband Network (QNBN), the country's No.2mobile operator by subscribers said on Sunday.
In October, Vodafone Qatar announced it had reached anon-binding agreement to buy QNBN, pending regulatory and otherapprovals.
Vodafone Qatar did not explicitly state why the deal hadfailed in a bourse statement, but said that "following a duediligence and negotiation process, the parties have determinednot to proceed with the transaction".
QNBN, which began rolling out a fibre network across Qatarin 2012 and expects to complete construction within three years,has contracts with Vodafone Qatar and former telecom monopolyOoredoo to provide wholesale broadband capacity.
Such a strategy was seen by analysts as a means to avoid thetwo rival operators unneccessarily duplicating infrastructure,with a single broadband network used by both in much of thecountry.
Vodafone Qatar had a 34 percent of Qatar's mobilesubscribers as of Sept. 30, according to its financial results. (Reporting by Matt Smith; Editing by Olzhas Auyezov)
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