Telecommunications in Oman
Oman Telecommunication Company (Omantel) has a monopoly in the landline telephone and internet access markets. Its arm Omanmobile offers mobile services. The Omani government owns 70% of Omantel after 30% was listed for the public in 2005. In 2005 Qatar Telecommunication Company (Qtel) and partners were awarded the second license to offer mobile services in the country under the brand of (Nawras), which is now rebranded as Ooredoo. Oman now have 4 mobile networks offering internet. The networks providing 3G coverage are Oman mobile, Ooredoo, renna and friendi.
In October 2007 the government overhauled Omantel board of directors and announced its plan to remerge the two arm of the company and to sell part of its share to a strategic partner. The government also slashed the royalty fee paid on revenue from 12% to 7%.
Telephone
Country Code: 00968
Landlines in use: 254,051(2010 - Feb)[1] Prepaid (36,430) - Postpaid (210,816)- Public Pay-phone (6,805)
Mobile cellular: 4,131,922 (2010 [2]- Feb) Prepaid (3,767,218) – Postpaid (364,704)
Domestic: open wire, microwave, radiotelephone communications, limited coaxial cable and a domestic satellite system with 8 earth stations. International: satellite earth stations - 2 Intelsat (Indian Ocean) and 1 Arabsat.
Internet
Internet Service Providers (ISPs): 1 (2007) Country code (Top level domain): OM
Dial-up access
Dial-up: Postpaid (50,000) plus prepaid access cards containing a username and a password which give a set number of surfing hours.
The postpaid dialup service offered by Omantel costs 3 R.O. ($8) per month plus 0.180 R..O. ($0.47) for each hour of use.
Broadband access
Broadband: (29,000)
ADSL services were launched in 2005 in Oman through the provider Omantel, the only ISP in Oman.
Packages available for home users: (These are old packages and rates - for the new packages please visit the omantel website)
- 512 kbit/s (0 GB bundled): costs 12 R.O. ($32) plus 1 R.O ($2.6) per gigabyte. No extra charge is calculated after downloading 27 GB which equals 39 R.O ($102) monthly.
- 1 Mbit/s (2 GB bundled): costs 19 R.O. ($50) plus 1 R.O. ($2.6) per extra gigabyte.
- 2 Mbit/s (5 GB bundled): costs 29 R.O. ($76) plus 1 R.O. ($2.6) per extra gigabyte.
- 4 Mbit/s (10 GB bundled): costs 39 R.O. ($102) plus 1 R.O. ($2.6) per extra gigabyte.
- 8 Mbit/s (unlimited access): costs 99 R.O. ($258).
EDGE and 3G
Both Omanmobile and Nawras offer access to the internet through their EDGE networks. Nawras launched its 3G network in selected areas in December 2007 with a download speed of 1 megabit. Omanmobile is also offering high speed 3G coverage .
Television
Broadcast stations: 13 (plus 25 low-power repeaters) (1999) Televisions: 1.6 million (1997)
Radio
Broadcast stations: AM 3, FM 9, shortwave 2 (1999) Radios: 1.4 million (1997)
In April, 2008, Nokia Siemens was appointed to replace parts of the existing radio network.[3]
See also
Notes
- ↑ http://www.tra.gov.om
- ↑ http://www.tra.gov.om
- ↑ Oman Mobile strengthens partnership with Nokia Siemens Networks, al-abwab.com, April 28, 2008.
External links
- Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
- Omantel - Oman Telecommunications Company phone company and ISP
- Oman Mobile mobile telecommunication company
- Nawras mobile telecommunication company
- Ministry of Information
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