DUBAI United Arab Emirates AP A United Arab Emirates company has signed an agreement to operate mobile telephones in Qatar a company statement said Tuesday. Under the agreement signed Monday Qatar Telecom or Q-Tel has been given the right to distribute and market U.A.E's Thuraya Satellite Telecommunications Co.'s services. Thuraya chairman Mohammad Hassan Omran said the agreement makes Q-Tel Thuraya's second regional service provider after U.A.E.'s monopoly telecoms company Emirates Telecommunications Corp. or Etisalat Thuraya's largest shareholder. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. It was also not know how Q-Tel the Qatari telecoms monopoly will benefit from the deal. Q-Tel is also a Thuraya shareholder. It already has a mobile phone service in Qatar but does not offer high-tech features of Thuraya such as voice mail and data capability. Thuraya plans to launch a geosynchronous satellite in May 2000 in a project valued at dlrs 1 billion. Hughes Space and Communications Co. a division of General Motors Corp.'s Hughes Electronic Corp. unit is the contractor. Switzerland's Ascom Corp. is the technology partner. The company also plans to launch a second satellite at a later stage to make 13750 satellite channels available to 1.8 million users. Thuraya's satellites are planned to cover most of Asia Africa and parts of Europe and provide voice fax and data services via hand-held vehicle-based and fixed terminals. UR; dj-af/vj APW19981201.0550.txt.body.html APW19981201.0835.txt.body.html