Thursday 18 / April / 2024
Muscat: There are one-and-a-half times more mobile phone connections in Oman than there are people in the Sultanate, the latest government data has shown.
According to information published by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), there were 6.652 million mobile subscribers in Oman at the end of August 2019, up from 6.44 million subscribers at the end of December 2018.
Oman’s population on 22 September 2019 stood at 4,672,243 people. Of these, 57.2 per cent (2,672,023) were Omani, while the remaining 42.8 per cent were foreign nationals (2,000,220).
Sarah Parsons, an Irish national living in the country, said she had three mobile phone lines. “My company has given me one for work, so I use that exclusively for work-related business. I also have a local number, as well as my Irish sim card,” she said.
“Having a separate work number does mean two phones, but it also means peace of mind in terms of who has your number, so you are not flooded with calls all the time.”
Abraham Kurien, an Indian national, said, “I work for a telecommunications company in the country, and as employees, we can only have work numbers issued for all of our professional needs. In a way, it is good, because I can then have another number to speak with my parents and friends, and I know that only they will call me on these numbers.”
Gurjeet Singh, another Indian national, said he had three different cell phone numbers, although only one of them was Omani. “I used to previously work in the UAE, so I have decided to keep that number. We have a lot of collaboration with businesses there and many of my former associates still remember that number, so it made sense to keep it.
“In addition, when I go there, I use that number, so it is quite useful,” added Gurjeet. “I also have an Indian number for when I travel and go there for my holidays. It may mean having two phones and regularly managing all three numbers, but it is so convenient when you travel overseas and only then do you understand the value of these phone connections.”
In addition, the NCSI reported that the total number of fixed internet subscriptions surged by 9.2 per cent to touch 463,131 by the end of August 2019, up from 424,284 at the end of December 2018. Of this, fixed broadband internet connections, which have speeds of more than 256 kilobytes, increased by 9.2 per cent to 461,007 by the end of August 2019.
The number of active mobile broadband subscribers rose by 8.8 per cent to 4.476 million by the end of August 2019, with around 4.113 million subscribers at the end of December 2018.
The total number of fixed telephone lines rose by 4.8 per cent to 587,388 by the end of August 2019, from 560,326 subscribers at the end of 2018.
“More and more people today are going for the flexible plans that are on offer,” said Rahim Obeid, a Pakistani national in the country.
“I myself have gone for one that does not require me to sign a contract and pay a deposit, so that I can cancel it any time. In addition, there are more competitors in the market today, so it makes for better internet rates and more variety for people.”
According to the NCSI report, the number of voice-over-internet protocol (VoIP) lines surged by 12.1 percent to 201,966 from 180,186 subscribers at the end of December 2018. Further, analogue fixed telephone lines rose by 1.1 percent to 327,813 from 324,129 subscribers.
The total number of mobile subscribers increased by 3.3 percent to 6.652 million by the end of August 2019, from 6.44 million subscribers at the end of 2018. Out of this, post-paid mobile connections increased by 5 percent to 748,571 from 712,622 subscribers. Prepaid mobile connections also rose by 3.1 percent to 5.904 million from 5.728 million and the number of subscribers of resellers rose by 23.9 percent to 937,408 from 756,799 at the end of December 2018.
