Oman’s second national telecoms operator, Omani-Qatari Telecommunications Company (Nawras), is preparing to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in September this year, a senior company official told local daily Times of Oman. ‘We are doing the groundwork for the launch of the issue on time as approved by Capital Market Authority (CMA). We are following the agreed process,’ Nawras CEO Ross Cormack said. He added that the firm is planning to offer 40% of its shares – as required under the terms of its licence – and will become the first Omani company to opt for a book-building process.
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Nawras was founded in 2004 by a consortium comprising Qatar incumbent Qtel (which owns a 55% stake in the company), Danish counterpart TDC (15%) and a number of Omani investors (30%). The newly established firm beat off five other shortlisted bidders in June 2004 to win the second ‘Class I’ mobile licence, and launched cellular services the following March. Nawras subsequently received a licence to provide fixed, data and international telecoms services in June 2009 and one year later launched commercial fixed line services.