Oman’s second national telecoms operator, Nawras, has announced the launch of fixed line services for business customers, breaking the monopoly held by incumbent state-owned telco Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel). ‘Over the last five years Nawras has built a solid reputation for offering pleasingly different mobile services of excellent quality and reliability,’ commented CEO Ross Cormack, adding: ‘Today, we are excited to be adding to this rewarding experience through the launch of our new fixed services. We are ready to deliver our new products and services with innovative quality, great value and professional support.’ The company’s new fixed line portfolio offers broadband internet, voice and data products – including Ethernet, non-geographical numbering, carrier select and leased line services – aimed at businesses of any size, from small companies to large corporations.
As reported by CommsUpdate, Nawras aims to launch wireline services for residential users in the second half of 2010. The company, which has provided mobile services in the Sultanate since March 2005, is rolling out a 5,000km fibre-optic next generation network (NGN) and is also constructing WiMAX base stations to take its high speed broadband service into homes and businesses nationwide. Nawras plans to offer fixed broadband services to more than 54% of the population at launch and hopes to increase the figure to 81% by mid-2011.