Some 180,000 lines will be on offer from the majority state-owned Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) under 13 different packages designed to ‘suit all budgets’ with a maximum speed of 8 mbps and 16 mbps for home and business users, respectively, key officials of the firm said, adding that the target for the current year was 75,000 subscribers. Existing clients will be upgraded free of charge.
Currently, broadband customers account for only 29,000 of the total number of 105,000 Internet subscribers in the country. Dial-up and pre-paid users total 53,000 and 24,000. “We don’t want Dial-up to grow. Our ultimate goal is to encourage all subscribers to switch over to broadband service,” Dr Mohammed bin Ali Al Wohaibi, the Omantel CEO, observed during a news conference here on Saturday.
He said the newly launched RO10 million ‘Nationwide Broadband Network Expansion’ strategy indicated “a new stage in the development of the Internet sector in the Sultanate within the framework of the efforts to disseminate the digital culture all over the country.”
It would push forward the Sultanate’s Digital Society and e-government projects, he added. The new strategy was designed by Omantel in collaboration with the French Orange Business Service Company which will also assist in implementing it. Wohaibi said current subscribers ‘will be rewarded’ with higher speeds — from 384 kpbs to 512 kpbs without charging them any additional fees. The 13 ADSL packages consist of five for home or individual users, five for businesses and three for educational and social sectors.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Ravindra Nath
Quelle/Source: Khaleej Times, 28.04.2008
