Qatar Telecoms (Qtel) will strip down its partnership with UK’s Virgin Mobile to comply with industry regulator ictQatar’s decision.

The move comes after UK-operator Vodafone, the second licence holder in Qatar, filed a complaint against Qtel for violating the conditions of its licence and engaging in anti-competitive practices.

All Virgin branded sims will have to be deactivated by 4 August. Qtel will also have to remove the Virgin Mobile brand from the market and migrate all Virgin customers.

The Virgin Mobile service was launched in May 2010.