Nawras network modernisation project starts to bear fruit

Nawras, Oman’s second national telecoms operator, has said that recent customer surveys and tests on its network in Al Amerat have shown significant improvement in both coverage, quality and connection stability, following the launch of a programme earlier this year aimed at ‘turbocharging’ its infrastructure across the Sultanate. ‘While we appreciate these are still early days, all our tests are showing that the planned network improvements are now coming through in Al Amerat and having an extremely positive affect on the customer experience, as promised,’ noted Wolfgang Wemhoff, chief technology officer at Nawras, adding: ‘We have introduced new network equipment at all base stations in Al Amerat and added a second carrier to enable us to handle more than double the traffic. This Turbocharging Programme is designed to delight our customers with faster speeds, higher quality services and greater coverage.’ He added that as part of the programme, Nawras is in the process of installing new equipment at every base station on its network and is working to increase coverage of its 3.5G network to 97% of the population; by the end of the year the firm will have rolled out nearly 200 new 3G base stations. The first stages of the Turbocharging Programme have already been completed at Al Bustan, Muttrah, Wadi Kabir, Wattaya, Ruwi, Darsait, Qurm, Medinat Al Ilam, Ministries District, Al Khuwair and Ghubra. Base stations in Bousher and Al Azaiba are next to be upgraded, with work scheduled to extend into the Batinah region at the beginning of 2013.