|
Publication Date: June 2008
EVENT SPOTLIGHT
Oman is currently one of the least liberalized markets in the GCC, with only one privately owned operator (second mobile operator Nawras) and one government-owned fixed and mobile operator, Omantel, which also has a complete monopoly on fixed Internet services. In the face of limited availability and the high price of fixed line and broadband services, Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has followed through on its long-awaited promise to open the fixed market to competition and invited operators to submit bids for a second fixed-line network during the three months following April 2008.
The auction of Oman’s second fixed license is likely to precipitate a dramatic increase in broadband penetration for the Sultanate and could threaten the position of Omantel, which is already struggling to cope with the introduction of competition on the mobile side. Effects will be especially dramatic should the second mobile operator, Qtel-owned Nawras, win the license.
Author: Dearbhla McHenry and Stephanie Lazicki
|
