Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) has increased the speed of its ‘Home Broadband’ plans across the Sultanate. Customers with a 2Mbps connection will now see their speeds reaching 4Mbps, while 3Mbps-5Mbps plans have been upgraded to 6Mbps and 40Mbps to 60Mbps at no additional cost, while the firm has also launched a new 35Mbps tariff for OMR55 (USD142) per month. ‘Our strategy at Omantel has always been focused on providing our customers with the best overall broadband experience,’ commented Haitham Abdullah Al Kharousi, vice president of Omantel’s Consumer Business Unit, adding: ‘As we have invested massively in expanding our fixed network and bringing its reach closer to more customers throughout the Sultanate, we are now able to pass the benefits to our customers by enhancing speeds. With this change, more than 90% of our customers have benefitted from doubling download speeds. In addition, upload speeds have been upgraded to 1Mbps.’
In other news, the Omani government will begin the second phase of its sale of shares in Omantel on 31 March, following the conclusion of a private placement of 71.25 million shares open to Omani individual and institutional investors based on a book-building approach earlier this month. The second phase involves an initial public offering (IPO) for Omani citizens at a fixed price of OMR1.350 per share. The public offer will close on 13 April 2014. Overall, the divestment will see the state’s ownership in Omantel reduced from 70% to 51%; 30% of the telco is already publicly owned.