Speaking to Times of Oman, a spokesperson for the company said that while the network is ready to launch 5G, there are no mobiles phones available to support it.
“We are ready from the network perspective but individual mobile phones are not,” said Ali Al Hashmi, senior manager of network design at Omantel. “For example, if you go to some of the areas, you may find 5G appearing as a network but you will not be able to pick it up from your mobile as it doesn’t yet support this feature.”
Omantel and Ericsson conducted a live 5G demonstration in a real-world environment, including tests on speed, mobility and latency, in November 2017. The 5G showcase, also used advanced 5G features such as beamforming and beam tracking.
Back in August 2018, Oman’s regulatory authority, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) confirmed its plans to deploy 5G networks in the county. To support the development TRA established a team dedicated to the project at a national level comprised of members of TRA as well as mobile network operators. The sole aim of the group was to develop a 5G strategy that will enable the deployment of a 5G-network in Oman and to address the challenges likely to arise during implementation.
OTI will manage the international voice business of Omantel, supporting partners and customers, to deliver simple and streamlined access to new and existing global voice solutions.
It was incorporated with a seamless migration of its customers in Q2 2018 and will see a growing number of voice agreements and other services added to its portfolio in the near future.
