[Oman-L] Phone & Internet connectivity on the rise in Oman

[Joachim Duester]

Remarkable rise in Oman's phone and Internet subscription   
Spurce: Oman Daily Observer, 5 July 2008

The statistical bulletin issued by the Ministry of National Economy shows that the number of fixed phone subscribers grew by 0.6 per cent to 217,904 by the end of April this year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

The number of Sahl subscribers stood at 41,482 by the end of April 2008, compared to 42,079 by the end of April 2007. The number of public phones in different parts of the Sultanate reached 6,814 as against 6,858 in April 2007. The number of active wireless lines amounted to 3,355 as of the end of April 2008.

The number of fixed telephone lines subscribers in the Muscat Governorate stood at 130,816 as at the end of April 2008, followed by the Al Batinah region 43,815, the Al Dakhiliyah region 25,690, the Al Sharqiyah region 22,427, the Dhofar Governorate 20,598, the Al Dhahirah region 15,814, the Musandam Governorate 3,263 and the Al Wusta region 318.

The number of mobile service, provided by Oman Mobile and Omani-Qatari Telecommunications Com-pany (Nawras), subscribers stood at 2,779,098 by the end of April 2008 compared to 2,500,000 by the end of 2007, an 11.2 per cent increase. The number of billed mobile telephone subscribers by the end of April 2008 amounted to 296,988 compared to 293,622 as of the end of 2007, a growth by 1.1 per cent .

The number of pre-paid mobile service has shown remarkable increase as the number of subscribers, by the end of April 2008 amounted to 2,482,110 compared to 2,206,378 as of the end of 2007, a growth by 12.5 per cent. The bulletin added that the number of Internet service subscribers rose by 14.4 per cent as at the end of April 2008 to reach 116,582, compared to 101,890 as of the end of 2007.

The number of internal phone service subscribers stood at 52,831. The number of Power Net subscribers stood at 24,936 and the number of leased Internet lines amounted to 512. The number of other Internet services amounted to 1,103. The number of Internet pre-paid service amounted to 37,200. The number of subscribers reached 3,286 for auto calls at the end of April at the leased circuit subscribers.