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New Mobile Operator in Oman!

June 26th, 2008 | Posted in Uncategorized

Just learnt from Kishor’s that the first MVNO in Oman has received its final approval from the Ministry of Transport and Telecom. So now we are going to have a third operator in addition to Oman Mobile and Nawars. The new operator is called FRiENDi, it was founded in 2006 in Dubai Internet City.

It is unclear if the company’s brand name will be FRiENDi here as well. The company’s CEO is Antti Arponen, (I checked their website and it has somebody else, so I assuem that this is the CEO of the Omani company only), he is Finnish.

The Chairman of FRiENDi in Oman is Mohamed Bin Yousuf Bin Alawi. I think that he is a board member of Raysut Cement and that he is the son of the Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Yousuf Bin Alawi.

An MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator) is basically a company that buys a huge number of calling minutes from a regular mobile network operator and then sells them back to the public under its own brand. This works in some places because when you buy a huge number of calling minutes you get them cheaper than the regular price, and then you can sell these minutes at a higher price that you paid to make a profit.

However, because an MVNO does not have its own infrastructure and merely resells the minutes it gets from somebody esle, an MVNO cannot offer any real new services. So, if Oman Mobile never gets 3G, then an MVNO that uses Oman Mobile as its provider will not be able to offer 3G. Nawras on the other hand is not an MVNO and has its own infrastrucure, so it managed to offer services that Oman Mobile do not have. (eg 3G)

The mobile telecom business relies greatly on customer service. MVNOs usually rely on offering better customer support and try to develop a relationship with the customer to get them rather than attemping to use new services or lower prices to lure them.

It will be really interesting to see how an MVNO performs in Oman, additional competition in the market is always nice.

Update: Just as Muscati has said in his post below, the another MVNO has been approved as well. The company is named Injaz, it’s chairman is Abdul Rahman Al Harthy and it’s CEO is Sameer Saadah.

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  • muscati
    From today's Oman Observer:


    TRA issues 5 new licences to basic mobile service resellers



    MUSCAT — The Telecommunication Regula-tory Authority (TRA) yesterday issued Class II licences to five companies as resellers of basic mobile services in the Sultanate. The licences, granted to Injaz International, Kalam Telecommunications, Majan Telecom, Mazoon Mobile and Arab Link, are for a period of five years, but extendable if the firms concerned comply with their licence obligations. In a statement, the TRA said the licensees can resell basic mobile services after buying airtime from operators at bulk rates in accordance with commercial agreements concluded with the operators. These services can then be rebranded and offered to subscribers at retail rates.



    The licencees have the option of programming and issuing their own branded SIM cards or relying on the host operators to provide their programmed SIMs. Additionally, the licencees can independently recharge the products and services distributed by them, or utilise the infrastructure of the host operator. Billing and invoicing may also be independently handled by the licencee or by the host operator in lieu, as the case may be. Mohsin bin Alawi al Hafeedh, TRA Member, said the new Class II licences were expected to boost demand for basic mobile services as the resellers target new subscriber segments through enhanced marketing strategies.



    The infrastructure serving basic mobile services is expected to grow as well, he added, while voicing hope that the new licences would help bring down prices and further diversify mobile services offered to subscribers. Under the licence terms, the new firms are obliged to earmark a minimum of 65 per cent of all jobs for Omanis during the first year of operation. They must also set up contact centre to respond to customer queries and complaints, he added.
  • muscati
    Oman's TRA has repeatedly said that they have no plans to allow a third mobile operator, but they are willing to allow an unlimited number of MVNOs. In fact Friendi is only the first and there are a total of 5 who have applied for MVNO licenses, all of whom will probably get their licenses.


    Once the dust settles, I'll be surprised if more than one of them survives. In the US, Helio is currently in its death throws and in the UK Virgin Mobile eventually merged with NTL. Interestingly, Virgin Mobile failed and shut down in Singapore. The guy who ran it was Ross Cormack, who is currently Nawras' CEO.



    By the way, Oman Mobile is planning to have 3G by the end of the year.
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