Virgin woe for Qatar's Qtel pushes shares down

Markets update: Qtel declines at the open after the country's telecom operator instructs the company to cease its Virgin mobile business by August 4 - with video.

Qatar Telecom declined at the open after a ruling by the country's regulator instructed the operator to cease operations in its Virgin Mobile branded service and transfer all existing customers to a similar Qtel service or provide a full cash refund.

Shares declined 1.9 per cent to 148.60 Qatari rials at 10am.

Qtel intends to "fully comply" prior to to the deadline of August 4, according to a statement published on the Qatar Exchange.

In the UAE, Dubai shares were down 0.2 per cent to 1563.41. The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange General Index was up 0.4 per cent to 2678.04.

Elsewhere in the region, Kuwait's index was unchanged at 6309.60. Bahrain's measure was down 0.3 per cent to 1332.48. Oman's index was unchanged at 6043.44. Qatar's index was down 0.4 per cent to 8117.36. The Saudi Tadawul All-Share Index was up 0.4 per cent to 6657.63.