Futaisi welcomes Vodafone as third mobile operator in Oman

Business Saturday 07/September/2019 14:52 PM
By: Times News Service
Futaisi welcomes Vodafone as third mobile operator in Oman

Muscat: Oman’s Minister of Transport and Communications, Dr Ahmed Al Futaisi, welcomed Vodafone to Oman as the Sultanate's third mobile network operator.

Vodafone’s operations in Oman are expected to begin in 2020, after it signed a 15-year partnership agreement with Oman Future Telecommunication — a company that is under the umbrella of Oman 70 Holding.

The agreement is aimed towards providing good quality mobile services as well as a focus on local skill development.

“We welcome the international company Vodafone as a strategic partner for the third telecom operator with Oman Future Telecommunications under the name Vodafone Oman,” said Al Futaisi. "The communications sector will enter a new phase of growth competitiveness, which will give more choices to customers and create more job opportunities for the youth.”

Adding to this, Fahad Al Busaidi of Itqan, a company allied to OFT and under Oman 70 Holding, said, “Oman Future Telecommunications seeks to partner with Vodafone in order to present exceptional communications services based on a customer-satisfaction strategy, the company’s operations will begin in 2020.”

Dieggo Massidda, the CEO of Partner Markets at Vodafone, said, “Vodafone will work to deliver the highest level of innovation and experience to the Sultanate of Oman. We will work to build Vodafone Oman to offer the best possible experience for customers. Vodafone Oman will be launched by a joint team from Vodafone and Omani locals, since raising the level of Omani labour is the core focus of our partnership.”

Oman’s Government Communications Centre (GC) shed light on how Vodafone would operate in Oman. Vodafone will offer all basic services for the new company’s operations, the authority to use Vodafone’s trademarked logo, and technical, knowledge, and operations support.

Oman Future Telecommunications will join the Vodafone global partners programme as well, and it will also work to form a Board of Directors for the company and to gain the license for a third operator from the Omani Telecommunications Regulation Authority.

The new company has garnered support and investments from the local government as well. According to the GC, the third operator will be part of Oman 70 Holding LLC and will include pension funds, as well as government investment funds and investors from the private sector.

The agreement between Vodafone and the Ministry of Transport and Communications was signed on Thursday, and on the occasion of the signing ceremony. Talks between Vodafone and a group of investors in Oman had been ongoing for a while, and a memorandum of understanding had been signed in May of this year.

At that time, the Sultanate’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) had said, “TRA welcomes such trade agreements, which is one of the jurisdictions of the licensing entities. The authority regards such agreements as a positive indicator that the telecommunications market in the Sultanate is an attractive market for international and domestic investors, thus enhancing the chances of competition."