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Omanetel, Ooredoo set to face new competition as TRA is instructed to start licensing process.
Oman is due to start work on licensing a third telecoms operator, it emerged at the weekend.
The country’s minister of transport and communications, Ahmed Al Futaisi, revealed on Twitter on Saturday that the Omani telecoms regulator has been instructed to begin the licensing process.
As it stands, Oman is home to just two network operators: Omantel and Ooredoo’s local unit, which adopted the group brand just over a year ago, having formerly been known as Nawras.
Omantel is the bigger of the two, with a market share of 45% as of the end of September, according to the latest figures from the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
Ooredoo had 41% of the market at the same date, while the remainder was accounted for by virtual players and resellers.
There were 6.56 million mobile subscriptions in Oman at the end of the third quarter of last year. There were just over 423,000 fixed lines in the country, equating to penetration of 10.02%. The fixed teledensity rate increased by more than a percentage point over 12 months, thanks to the addition of almost 60,000 lines.
