Oman has awarded a second fixed-line licence to PCCW-Awaser Oman Consortium, a joint venture between local interests and Hong Kong-based Pacific Century CyberWorks, to provide telecom services to the sultanate.
The Omani Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said the consortium achieved the highest marks in technical and commercial evaluation as well as in its financial bid. The statement over the weekend added that the consortium is given 15 working days to honour its obligations with the TRA.
The award marks a milestone in the liberalization of the telecommunications sector in the sultanate. For this exercise, the Class 1 fixed-line license is for a 25-year period with 15-year contract for broadband services. Among others, one criteria is that no association with the incumbent fixed-line operator, Omantel, is allowed, while bidders need not have Omani partner and may be fully foreign owned. It was reported that a fee of OMR500000 (US$1.3 million) is payable upon award and the successful party will pay seven percent of gross revenues as royalty to the government. In fact, it is understood that the consortium will be given radio spectrum to operate wireless broadband services that is not available to Omantel.
With a population of 3.3 million, the penetration rate for fixed-line services is 10% while its just 3% for Internet subscribers.
PCCW provides comprehensive telecom services and is one of Asia’s leading info-com players. It has more than 16,000 staff worldwide with headquarters in Hong Kong and operations in the China and Asia as well as the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the Americas.
http://www.telecoms-mag.com/newsglobe/article.asp?HH_ID=AR_4550
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