Oman’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) renewed the country's largest operator Omantel’s mobile telecom licence for a period of 15 years - commencing from February 2019.
A one-time licence renewal fees of 75 million Omani rials (Dh715m) will be charged by the TRA and the amount will be paid in two equal instalments by the telecom company in 2019 and 2020, said Omantel on Sunday.
“The renewal includes the spectrum that are currently allocated to Omantel under the existing first-class mobile telecom licence and will not include the 5G spectrum,” the company said.
However, industry experts say that the payment of fees, in the set time-frame, could put pressure on Omantel financially.
"Although the licence extension fees on Omantel was expected for quite sometime, this can pressurise the telcom operator's dividend paying capacity for the next two years, given that the charges need to be paid in two equal instalments," Nishit Lakhotia, head of research at Bahraini investment bank Sico, told The National.
Omantel's revenues during the first nine months of 2018 increased to 1.5 billion rials, compared to 406.7m rials during the same period in 2017. The telco's 2018 revenues also included revenues from Kuwait’s Zain Group, in which it owns a controlling share of 21.9 per cent.
Anticipating local market saturation, dipping subscribers and imminent entry of the third mobile operator in Oman, Omantel had bought a stake in Kuwait's telecom operator Zain for more than $2.1bn in 2017. It is the company’s second-largest shareholder after the country’s sovereign wealth fund, the Kuwait Investment Authority.
Omantel's customer base, exclusive of resale companies affiliated to the telco, declined by nearly 3.3 per cent to 3.4 million subscribers by the end of September 2018, compared to 3.5 million subscribers in September 2017.
However, in a bid to create a competitive atmosphere and to offer superior services at competitive prices, the TRA is expected to announce the third mobile operator in Oman in the coming days.
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Yousef Balushi, deputy chief executive for spectrum management affairs at TRA, said the third operator in Oman will be announced early this year. He said all domains and frequencies for the third operator will be granted the same way as to Omantel and Ooredoo.
Ooredoo, which launched as Oman’s second mobile operator in 2004, broke the monopoly of Omantel, which is still majority owned by the government.
Omantel is also pursuing its cloud computing and data centre ambitions in the region. Last year, it announced a joint venture with the US tech company Equinix to develop a data centre in Muscat, where carriers, content and cloud providers can house their IT infrastructure.
Under the agreement, Omantel and Equinix are the two equal shareholders and the first of three phases is expected to start operations by the second quarter of 2019.
What is the FNC?
The Federal National Council is one of five federal authorities established by the UAE constitution. It held its first session on December 2, 1972, a year to the day after Federation.
It has 40 members, eight of whom are women. The members represent the UAE population through each of the emirates. Abu Dhabi and Dubai have eight members each, Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah six, and Ajman, Fujairah and Umm Al Quwain have four.
They bring Emirati issues to the council for debate and put those concerns to ministers summoned for questioning.
The FNC’s main functions include passing, amending or rejecting federal draft laws, discussing international treaties and agreements, and offering recommendations on general subjects raised during sessions.
Federal draft laws must first pass through the FNC for recommendations when members can amend the laws to suit the needs of citizens. The draft laws are then forwarded to the Cabinet for consideration and approval.
Since 2006, half of the members have been elected by UAE citizens to serve four-year terms and the other half are appointed by the Ruler’s Courts of the seven emirates.
In the 2015 elections, 78 of the 252 candidates were women. Women also represented 48 per cent of all voters and 67 per cent of the voters were under the age of 40.
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
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Dos
- Wear the right fabric for the right season and occasion
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Don’ts
- Wear hamdania for work, always wear a ghutra and agal
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