[Pictured: Signing Ceremony - Eng Majid bin Amer al Kharousi, CEO of OTC; Talal bin Said al Ma’amari, CEO of Omantel; Jim Maxell, acting CEO of Ooredoo]
The deals are part of the government's efforts to unify the inactive communications infrastructure in the sultanate as it looks to introduce 5G mobile services in the country before 2020.
“The memorandum of understanding signed with OTC covers the technical issues of the infrastructure for the communication towers that will be provided by OTC for the current or future mobile operators,” said Talal bin Said al Ma’amari, CEO of Omantel.
Majid bin Amer Al Kharousi, CEO of OTC, said in a statement to Oman News Agency that OTC will not just build the towers for Omantel and Ooredoo, but also a third operator whose identity is reported to be unveiled soon.
The “licensing process for the third operator is in the final stages”, according to Yousef bin Abdullah al Balushi, deputy CEO for spectrum management affairs at the country’s Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), who made the comments speaking about the TRA telecoms frequency draw for the 3,400MHZ to 3,700MHz bands.
Each mobile operator will get 100MHz of frequency, which they can use for offering 5G telecom services in the country. As per TRA rules and regulation, Omantel was allocated frequency from 3,400 to 3,500, Ooredoo from 3,500 to 3,600 and the third operator from 3,600 to 3,700 through the draw.
Commenting on 5G, Al Balushi said 5G services will provide enough capacity for a large number of devices to be connected to the internet, enhancing customer experience and promoting new initiatives such as smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT).
