By Omantel

Omantel’s pioneering technological development has been bringing the world closer to the people of Oman for over 3.5 decades, while establishing Oman as the regional hub for voice, internet, broadband and data telecommunications services.

Since 2005 the recognition that Omantel’s leading operator has received from regional and global telecom players allied to its ideal geographical location has ensured the Sultanate has been identified as the perfect landing point for major international underwater cable systems.

Over the last few years, Omantel has gradually expanded its international network and through such investments ensured that the country is now an important staging post for global networks.

Omantel has developed a unique set of commercial and technological expertise to ensure that people not only in Oman but across the region can benefit from faster internet connections and downloads.

Omantel has already entered into partnerships with key telecom companies across inside and outside of this region to ensure interconnection to the major cable networks. This is in line with Omantel’s vision to build a totally connected community.

This has been achieved through over RO 50 million of investments in recent years based on state of the art technology to support growing demand for voice, broadband and data services.

Thorleif Herrstrom, Vice President of Wholesale Services at Omantel, says: “Oman has strengthened its position to become the focal point for the region and through allows us to stay connected to the world.

“Omantel has made significant investments in networks and we have the latest technology to become a hub for a broad range of telecom services within the region

“We have entered into agreements with content providers to enable them to host their equipment in Oman so people can access the content directly and more quickly without any need to buy internet links to Europe or North America that could lead to slower connectivity.

“The systems we have in place mean that Omantel has the ability to host international content locally to ensure faster and higher quality provision of internet services. Omantel is already in conversation with a number of players that have expressed their interest to have their content hosted in Oman and interconnect with global networks.”

Omantel currently has links to global cable networks spanning a total of 105,300 kilometers – which equates to travelling nearly three times around the Equator.  The cables that land in Oman are managed locally by Omantel and have a massive capacity for telecom services.

The bulk of capacity is used for data, broadband and internet services. All these services have witnessed strong growth in usage. New cable systems are under deployment to support both current and expected growth of demand.

Currently four major international cable systems have landing sites in and around the Muscat area namely, SMW-3, FALCON, Europe India Gateway (EIG) & TWA.

“As demand grows and our technology becomes more sophisticated, and based on the fact that a number of international  cables are landed in Oman, Omantel position as the ‘Carrier of Carriers’ is increasingly being recognized within the region as Oman is uniquely placed to be connected to the world, be it to Europe, US, Asia or Africa.

“Our growing wholesale business is further evidence of how we live our new Omantel brand tagline of ‘Together’ and ensure that we do bring Oman, our region and the rest of the world closer together and use innovative technologies to create totally connected communities,” added Mr. Herrstrom.