Nawras wins fixed line licence in Oman

Second placed Omani mobile operator Nawras has been issued a fixed line licence, the company said on Tuesday.

Nawras, which is majority owned by Qatar Telecom, is now licensed to provide fixed, data and international telecommunication services in Oman, and can use its network infrastructure to offer WiMAX and HSDPA services, the company said. The licence is valid for 25 years.

Since its launch in 2005 as the second operator in Oman, Nawras has won over 1.6 million GSM customers and claims to have achieved a market share of more than 45 per cent by the end of the first quarter of 2009.

Nawras’ extension into fixed line and consumer broadband services complements the Qtel group’s strategy to grow its operations across dedicated business lines, as part of its objective to become one of the world’s top 20 telecoms companies by 2020, Qtel said.