long overdue

I suppose everyone in Oman knows of this by now but they don't know the exact timing of it.

It has been confirmed that Oman Mobile and Oman Telecommunications Company will be both re-merged into one company withing a few weeks from now. The move behind this is that the company (i.e.: OmanTel) has been discussing and evaluating its business and come to the conclusion that their biggest selling product/service was their mobile communications unit which we come to know as Oman Mobile.

The drive to split up the company in the beginning was because Nawras had argued that it cannot compete with OmanTel as a startup mobile telecommunications company with the government pushing it onwards with a tremendous budget. So the Capital Market Authority had ordered the the company to split up into two.

The reason behind delaying the announcement was to wait for an appropriate time when everyone came back from their holidays to get everything on a roll. So that by the time the investors come back the price of the shares will be driven sky high all over again over the movement.

It is also interesting to know that before the end of this year, two new competitors will also be entering the market in the fixed line and Internet businesses. And the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority will also be making an important announcement about the possibility of both OmanTel and Nawras to invest in both those fields as they desire without a need for a new license.

By 2009, assuming the penetration hits above the past 33% average before Nawras had come into the market, a new license will also be awarded in the field of mobile telecommunications to a new and much stronger competitor by the TRA.

This information was provided by an anonymous but reliable source.

-----------------------------------

Links:

- OmanTel

- Oman Mobile

- Nawras

- Captial Market Authority (CMA)

- Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)