By phone

When calling from abroad, the country code of Qatar is 974. There are no city or area codes. When calling over-seas while within Qatar, the international access code is
usually 0. Qatari phone numbers now have eight digits. Previously, they contained seven, but this was changed by the government regulator in 2010. If you encounter a number with only seven digits, you can still use it by re-peating the first digit. For example, a phone number that previously began with '3' would now start with '33'.

Previously, Qtel, a government-owned company, held a monopoly over telecommunications in the country. Al-though this changed in 2006 when the Emir allowed new companies to be formed, competition is still weak with only two major operators:

Ooredoo (formerly Qtel) - the “Hala” prepaid starter pack costs QR 50 with QR 25 of initial credit. International calls to most countries costs QR 0.66/minute. Has overall better coverage than Vodafone.

Vodafone Qatar - prepaid sim packs start from QR 60 with an initial credit of QR 35. International calls to most countries costs QR 0.66/minute.

  By post

Qatar has a fairly efficient postal system run by Q-Post. There are dozens of post offices scattered across Doha, along with branches in many major cities. It costs QR 2.50 to send a standard postcard to most Western coun-tries. The price drops down to QR 1 to 1.50 when send-ing a postcard domestically or to most nations within the Middle East and North Africa. Sending parcels can get costly, being counted per kilogram and by distance. A full list of rates and branch locations can be found on the Q-Post website.

Addresses on international letters and postcards should be formatted as:

Name of recipient

House number and street name

City, Postal code

Country