33% university students in Oman hooked on phones: Study

Muscat: One-third of students studying at Oman’s only public university are dependent on mobile phones, latest research from the Sultan Qaboos University has revealed.
Fahad bin Nasser Al Farsi, a researcher from the Faculty of Engineering, prepared a questionnaire and targeted certain focus groups to find patterns of mobile phone use among students. Of the 849 undergraduate participants who were surveyed, 33.1 per cent were found to be addicted to their phones.
The results of the survey also indicated that university students commonly used WhatsApp, rather than other phone applications. Most used their phones for entertainment and to seek information, according to the findings.
The study also considered variables, such as the students’ field of study, academic achievement, parental education, and family income. Underlying reasons, such as demographic factors, could correlate to the level of addictiveness, Al Farsi remarked.
The questionnaire was followed by discussions with the focus groups to support the data collected. Besides revealing the patterns of mobile phone use and addiction, the research also indicated that most students were unaware of the side effects of heavy phone usage.
The mobile sector of Oman’s telecommunication market has been steadily growing in the last five years, with 5,277 million subscribers and a 160 per cent penetration rate in 2012. According to Greg Young, the CEO of Ooredoo, the Sultanate has the fastest growing smartphone market among Gulf Cooperation Council member states.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has introduced a number of initiatives to take telecommunication services to the rural regions of the Sultanate. Some 410 villages were included in past initiatives, with 312 telecommunication stations having partially completed construction and installation.