Vodafone Qatar VQFS.QA has scrapped its bid to buy state-owned wholesale Internet provider Qatar National Broadband Network (QNBN), the country's No.2 mobile operator by subscribers said on Sunday.
In October, Vodafone Qatar announced it had reached a non-binding agreement to buy QNBN, pending regulatory and other approvals.
Vodafone Qatar did not explicitly state why the deal had failed in a bourse statement, but said that "following a due diligence and negotiation process, the parties have determined not to proceed with the transaction".
QNBN, which began rolling out a fiber network across Qatar in 2012 and expects to complete construction within three years, has contracts with Vodafone Qatar and former telecom monopoly Ooredoo ORDS.QA to provide wholesale broadband capacity.
Such a strategy was seen by analysts as a means to avoid the two rival operators unnecessarily duplicating infrastructure, with a single broadband network used by both in much of the country.
Vodafone Qatar had a 34 percent of Qatar's mobile subscribers as of Sept. 30, according to its financial results.
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