Licence for new telecom operator in Oman soon

Business Sunday 14/February/2016 10:07 AM
By: Times News Service
Licence for new telecom operator in Oman soon

Muscat: Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) has been urged by Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, to initiate the licensing process for the third telecom operator in Oman.
In a tweet on his official twitter handle while announcing the move, Dr Al Futaisi said the decision is aimed at boosting competition and providing more options to consumers.
According to National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) issued in the end of December reveals that the total number of fixed telephone lines, including post and pre-paid, public, WLL and ISDN channels, registered a growth of 13.7 per cent during the first ten months of 2015.
Fixed telephone subscriber base stood at 426,558 by the end of October compared to 420,491 till December 2014, according to figures issued by the NCSI.
Among fixed lines, pre-paid telephones witnessed the highest growth at almost 60 per cent. Pre-paid mobile connections recorded 6.4 per cent growth to reach 6,025,475, NCSI figures show.
During the period, the number of Internet subscribers surged to 224,111 (growth of 24.4 per cent) due to a 25 per cent growth in fixed broadband subscribers that reached 221,283 by the end of October 2015.
NCSI figures also show a growth of 7.6 per cent in active mobile broadband subscribers to reach 3,112,104.