Driving around Doha can be a nerve racking experience on the best of days. With a general lack of respect for the road rules varying from no indicator usage to erratic high speed driving of all descriptions, Doha could really do with a lot more road safety awareness.
The College of the North Atlantic Qatar (CNA-Q) is doing its’ part to promote this exact issue, with their Automobile Safety Fair. The school of Health Sciences Paramedic Programme is hosting the Fair for the second year and will be continuing to do so for years to come.
They are holding a 20 minute accident simulation scene showing an emergency Paramedic rescue. The rescue is performed by first year paramedic students enrolled in the Emergency Medical Technician Basic EMTB. This provides the students with an opportunity to increase their rescue skills. The organisers from the school are targeting the high risk group of 18-25 year olds, with the message of slow down, arrive alive and wear seatbelts. Another message the school is promoting is the imperative need to buckle up children and babies in the car.
By raising awareness of the reality and tragedy which surrounds road accidents, people’s attitudes will be changed, and hopefully lives will be saved. There are numerous activities included in the fair’s line up. Students at the college and visitors will be able to watch simulations, they can also hear a panel discuss the issue of car accidents in Qatar, take a road safety test, witness a first aid demonstration by Qatar’s Red Crescent and more in the tent displays in the school’s courtyard.
While Qatar’s road safety still needs great improvement, we are grateful to the efforts of CNA-Q. If the attitudes of a few can be influenced then the potential heartache experienced by the great many people affected from road accidents will be lessened. You can never be too safe on the roads, so let’s buckle up everybody in the car, every single journey, slow down, indicate, and generally exercise good driving safety habits every day.
Tuesday, 31 March 2009
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Qtel Subscribers than Qatar
The mobile-phone-loving population of Qatar's prevelance to owning multiple handsets means that there are now more phones than people in Qatar.
Now Qtel is posting a record number of subscribers - 1.8 million in total, which substantially exceeds a population of about 1.5 million.
The growth is also pretty impressive considering there were 1.5 million users only in November.
The growth in numbers is thought to be due to the relaunch of two former products, but also the increasing tend to keeping seperate phones for work and personal life.
The growth in numbers is thought to be due to the relaunch of two former products, but also the increasing tend to keeping seperate phones for work and personal life.
Expansion Abroad
Qtel's aggressive growth has been going on abroad as well as at home.
The country has been battling to take over Indosat, and Indonesian mobile company, depite regulatory hurdles.
At the end of February the company was finally able to take a majority stake in the company.
Time's up?
At the end of February the company was finally able to take a majority stake in the company.
Time's up?
However, as we saw in Vodafone's coming, times may longer be quite so easy for Qtel.
The international operater switched on its network a few days ago, and will soon be starting testing with its first 100 subscribers.
Qtel has never had a competitor to deal with in its home territory before, but will now have to compete with a savvy operator practised at expanding into new territories.
What's more, many of Qtel's customers are fed up with the level of service they receive - and a recent announcement that Vodafone intends to compete on price as well as service will rachet up the pressure.
It may not be too long before Qtel's subscriber numbers are falling instead of rising...
Find telecommunications companies on Qatcom.com
The international operater switched on its network a few days ago, and will soon be starting testing with its first 100 subscribers.
Qtel has never had a competitor to deal with in its home territory before, but will now have to compete with a savvy operator practised at expanding into new territories.
What's more, many of Qtel's customers are fed up with the level of service they receive - and a recent announcement that Vodafone intends to compete on price as well as service will rachet up the pressure.
It may not be too long before Qtel's subscriber numbers are falling instead of rising...
Find telecommunications companies on Qatcom.com
Sunday, 1 March 2009
A Rough Ride for Foreign Investors
If you had invested in the DSM at its very conception, then despite the huge falls and rises the market has seen you would have made profits.
At the end of 2000 the DSM had a captilisation of just under 19 billion. At the end of 2008 the capitilisation stood at 279 billion - well down from the 347 billion of the previous year but a hefty profit nonetheless.
Unfortunately for foreign investors, the year that saw the DSM peak was the year that foreign investors were allowed into the market: 2005.
Turbulent Times
In recent days any early investors will have further causes for woe.
Shares fell over 6% on one day last week, and yesterday they continued their fall, losing 23% of their value to hit a new year five year low.
With analysts saying that trading is likely to be subdued, there is little hope of a major recovery.
Future opportunity?
Of course, the more volatile the market the more potential for profit there is.
And if we agree with Warren Buffet that we should rejoice when share prices go down and be sad when they go up, then now are happy times indeed.
The long term future of Qatar remains bright, with its vast natural resources ensuring it a steady income stream, especially when the world economy recovers.
What may put some investors off, though, is the lack of information and analysis available in English.
Until that happens, many investors may prefer to stay clear of investing in individual stocks.
Look up the DSM with Qatcom, Qatar's largest online business directory.
At the end of 2000 the DSM had a captilisation of just under 19 billion. At the end of 2008 the capitilisation stood at 279 billion - well down from the 347 billion of the previous year but a hefty profit nonetheless.
Unfortunately for foreign investors, the year that saw the DSM peak was the year that foreign investors were allowed into the market: 2005.
Turbulent Times
In recent days any early investors will have further causes for woe.
Shares fell over 6% on one day last week, and yesterday they continued their fall, losing 23% of their value to hit a new year five year low.
With analysts saying that trading is likely to be subdued, there is little hope of a major recovery.
Future opportunity?
Of course, the more volatile the market the more potential for profit there is.
And if we agree with Warren Buffet that we should rejoice when share prices go down and be sad when they go up, then now are happy times indeed.
The long term future of Qatar remains bright, with its vast natural resources ensuring it a steady income stream, especially when the world economy recovers.
What may put some investors off, though, is the lack of information and analysis available in English.
Until that happens, many investors may prefer to stay clear of investing in individual stocks.
Look up the DSM with Qatcom, Qatar's largest online business directory.
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