Batelco partners with Omantel to extend corporate VPN solutions (Bahrain)
Batelco, Bahrain’s leading integrated communications company is further demonstrating its position as a provider of cutting-edge services by launching MPLS IP VPN interconnectivity in partnership with Omantel, the number one service provider of advanced communication solutions in Oman.
Batelco’s General Manager Enterprise and Government Division Adel Daylami and Omantel Senior Manager Capacity & Submarine at Wholesale Business Unit Johannes Boersma signed the partnership agreement on the sidelines of the International Telecoms Week (ITW) held in Chicago, US, on May 14-16.
Building on existing agreements, this partnership will allow bi-lateral Data IP Services to be sold between Bahrain and Oman, as well as providing one-stop-shop transit services to Batelco’s and Omantel’s carrier partners, enabling both parties to extend corporate VPN solutions between their respective markets. This agreement will provide state-of-the-art, end-to-end MPLS VPN services to Bahrain and Oman-based businesses that wish to establish secure inter-office connectivity between both locations. Through this agreement, Batelco and Omantel will further strengthen its offering to carrier and corporate customers in all GCC countries, Middle East as well as anywhere around the globe.
Daylami said that this strategic bi-lateral understanding is an important addition to Batelco’s portfolio of OSS agreements, links for Batelco’s international customers and partners can now be extended to all GCC countries through Batelco’s Global IP VPN reliable, state of the art network.
He added that accordingly, this comes in line with Batelco’s International Carrier Relations (ICR) strategy via its presence in all GCC countries as well as other key destinations, through reliable MPLS, Ethernet and IPLC networks in order to expand the company’s IP Data Services reach to all major destinations.
This agreement complements Batelco’s range of global connectivity services such as Global IP-VPN, Global Ethernet, IPLC, Global Satellite services and a Global Datacenter that not only enhances efficiency by offering seamless, secure and dedicated interconnectivity but also the reliable support of a professional team working 24×7 in Batelco’s sophisticated NOC’s (Network Operation Centre’s).
Boersma said that Omantel provides a comprehensive range of managed services to companies and carriers, and this new agreement with Batelco enables Omantel to increase the depth of its MPLS VPN portfolio, adding additional regional capabilities. The company is proud to work with Batelco, which is a long-term partner of Omantel.
Orange Business Services highlights strategic focus on Middle East region at conference in Oman
Orange Business Services, the B2B arm of France Telecom-Orange and one of the largest ICT employers in the Middle East, has identified the Middle East as a strategic region for the next five years. The company is focusing on the opportunities presented by smart cities, cloud computing and the development of the enterprise services market.
This strategy was presented during the annual Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (EEMEA) regional meeting held in Muscat. Customers and partners joined more than 200 senior Orange Business Services staff representing 80 countries.
Philippe Koebel, Senior Vice President and Head of Emerging Markets for Orange Business Services, said: Orange Business Services has all of the necessary needed assets in the region to contribute to our strong business ambition in the emerging markets of generating 1 billion euros in revenue by 2015. We offer a full range of solutions from various local network access options through Business VPN up to telepresence, unified communications and fully connected smart cities. With 2,000 regional staff, five regional offices, a major service center, and two Orange labs, Orange Business Services is well equipped to meet the needs of our customers whether simple or complex.â€
Orange Business Services is a smart city pioneer, delivering telecommunications infrastructure solutions to cities that provide ubiquitous IP-based infrastructure and connectivity, backed by innovative related ICT services, including voice solutions, business and on-demand connectivity, public Wi-Fi and state-of-the-art security.
2010 proved to be a successful year for Orange Business Services in the region with 10 major new clients added and a range of high profile smart city project wins. Orange Business Services supports more than 500 multinational customers in EEMEA, including: BHP Billiton, Ecobank, Lafarge, MAF Carrefour, Omantel, South African Breweries, and United Arab Shipping Company (UASC).
To address the cloud computing demand, Orange Business Services appointed its first Middle East & Africa Regional Cloud Director in August 2010 and, along with Cisco, EMC and VMware, announced Flexible 4 Business to offer end-to-end cloud computing services for enterprises.
Sama Telecom wins third Oman licence
Sama Telecommunications (Samatel) has won Oman’s third telecom licence, according to a decree issued by Sultan Qaboos.
According to reports, the ‘Class 1′ licence enables the operator to set up and operate a system to provide general international telecommunication services for 15 years. The value or any other details of the concession have not been disclosed.
Samatel will join the Sultanate’s two existing operators, incumbent Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) and Nawras, the latter of which is controlled by Qatar’s Qtel. Samatel is said to have broken Omantel’s monopoly in the wireless market in 2004.
Government to sell Omantel stake still on hold (Oman)
The country’s economy minister, Ahmad Bin Abdul Nabi Macki has stated that the government of Oman has put on hold a plan to offload a 25% share in incumbent telecoms operator Omantel.
Omantel, which provides nationwide fixed line and mobile services in the Sultanate, is 70% owned by the state, with the remaining 30% held by private investors.
According to reports, the Omani government first announced a plan to sell a 25% stake in Omantel in July 2008, with the aim of boosting the firm’s competitive position.
In mid-October 2008 it was confirmed that eight unidentified parties had been selected to participate in the second phase of the sale process, with Saudi Telecom Company (STC), Indian operator Bharti Airtel and the UAE’s Etisalat rumored to be potential bidders.
However, in late December 2008 the government cancelled the sale, blaming unprecedented market volatility and economic conditions. In January 2010 the government had said it may revive its plan to sell a stake in Omantel, once the global market recovers.
Omantel Q3 profit drops 21%
Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) has recorded its third quarter results. As per the results company’s profits dropped 21% to US$214 million. The revenues for this quarter have increased by 3.9% to US$817 million, the majority of which can be attributed to the increase in the domestic retail revenue of 2%.
The group expenses reached US$581.78 million, compared to US$496.07 million for the corresponding period of last year, due to the expansion of 3.5G network and the declining results from the introduction of new technologies on the network.
The decline in net profit is due to an increase in expenses driven by a massive investment in expanding the network, transforming the network into an IP Core intelligent network and the deployment of other new technologies.
The company’s overall mobile subscriber base in Oman increased by 20% compared to the last year.
Omantel Q4 net profit rises by 5%
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: 5% year-on-year increase in the net profit to OMR125.2 million (USD323.9 million) has been reported by Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel). However, due to increased competitions, sales rose by less than 1% to OMR412 million while net income after tax climbed to OMR125 million during 2009 from OMR119 million.
In a in a move to reduce costs and make savings starting 2010 onwards , the company expects to make savings of about OMR2.8 million from voluntary redundancies it offered in 2009.
4Q09 net profit at OMR19.4 million is based on previous financial statements and is up from OMR9.7 million in the same quarter.
Plans to sell Omantel stake might be revived by Oman govt
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: The plans to sell 30-percent stake in Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) in 2010 may be revived by Oman. The plan to sell the stake in the company was postponed by the government in December 2008 due to bad economic conditions all over the world.
The government of Oman controls 70 percent of Omantel has been waiting global markets to recover before resuming the search for a strategic investor.
Omantel’s NGN contract awarded to Huawei
www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Huawei, a Chinese equipment vendor has been awarded an OMR10 million (USD25.9 million) contract by Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) to expand the incumbent fixed line operator’s next generation network (NGN).
Huawei superseded US equipment maker Cisco Systems, French company Alcatel-Lucent and Swedish mobile phone manufacturer Nokia to break the deal.
Nawras launches Mobile Number Portability service
MUSCAT – Rashid bin Mohammed Said Al Saidi ‘ported’ (term used for the transferring process) his Oman Mobile number to Nawras yesterday morning from a Nawras outlet in Ruwi.The significance of that should not be lost because Rashid Al Saidi became not only the first Nawras customer to do so, but, more importantly, he is the first person in Oman to sort of “have his number and keep it too”.
In the sense, he is the first-ever mobile user in Oman to be able to not only choose his mobile operator, change it to his preferred one, but also keep his number, something, which became a reality as per the nearly RO1 million Mobile Number Portability (MNP) project, as envisaged by the Royal Decree No. 30/2002, which became a reality yesterday morning.
And for Nawras, known as the Sultanate’s customer-friendly communications provider with around 440,000 customers, this is a first, not only in Oman, but also a first in the Middle East, Ross Cormack, Nawras CEO, told a packed news conference held at its main office in Al Athaiba/Azaiba yesterday, which was held an hour or so after the MNP transfer came into effect.
Also present were top Nawras officials, including Khalid Mahmood, COO, Nawras and Haitham bin Abdullah Al Kharusi, head of offer management and corporate affairs, Nawras and other key members who made the project a reality.
Nawras, officially launched its MNP campaign yesterday, entitled ‘transfer to Nawras today and keep your mobile number’. Scribes were taken down to the Nawras store where a demonstration, right from the customer making the enquiry to the exact transfer process, was made.
MNP is a new service introduced by Nawras to make it possible for mobile customers to keep their existing number when transferring to Nawras.
Renowned Omani national and international football goalkeeper, Ali Al Habsi, was chosen as the Nawras ambassador for the MNP campaign. Ali was pleased that Nawras has launched the campaign on August 26, as Ali is known for his jersey number 26!
Nawras officials listened to customers, who told their mobile numbers were important to them as part of their identity. “We took the lead and lobbied the TRA and fought hard for customers’ rights to enjoy the extra freedom of choice, which MNP brings to all mobile users in Oman. We are now launching this incredible service that allows customers to choose their operator and keep their existing number. Customers can choose right now…they can keep their number and transfer to Nawras today,” Cormack said.
The MNP is a very important pre-requisite in a free mobile telecommunications market focused on fair competition, and the TRA in Oman has been a pioneer in overseeing the regulatory and operator developments necessary to allow this service to be introduced. Till yesterday customers were locked up with their existing mobile provider and could only change operators with considerable disruption and cost, Cormack added.
Cormack explained the steps required for customers to transfer to Nawras and keep their mobile number. The first step is for customers to contact (this is not applicable for prepaid customers) their existing operator to pay their outstanding bill. Then the customers may visit any Nawras store or selected Nawras dealer located all over the Sultanate, within 24 hours, to complete a form, which opens the process of transferring their mobile number to Nawras.
The Nawras store or the Nawras dealer representatives will help customers to fill out the customer porting-authorisation form. Customers can choose whether to transfer to Nawras Ajel (postpaid) or Nawras Mousbak (prepaid), by purchasing the corresponding welcome pack and signing the Nawras registration form.
The customers can use their new Nawras SIM card with a temporary Nawras number as soon as it is activated. Nawras takes care of the rest of the process, and within two to three days the temporary number on the customer’s new Nawras SIM card will be replaced with the customer’s original mobile number.
During the two to three-day transferring period, the customer can either continue to use their existing SIM card, if they wish their family or friends to contact them on the same number, or they can use their newly purchased Nawras SIM card with a temporary number. Customers who use their existing SIM cards during the transferring period will be charged by their original mobile provider, in the same way they are used to. For example, for prepaid it will be immediately deducted from their balance, and for postpaid they will be billed by their original provider within the normal time frame. All calls made during the transferring period by the customer from their temporary Nawras number will either be deducted from their account, for Nawras Mousbak, or billed on their first Nawras bill statement, for Nawras Ajel.
Nawras will notify the customer by calling them once the transferring process is about to be completed. Once the transfer of the number is completed, the customer’s old SIM card will be disconnected and can be discarded. The customer is required to pay a RO3 transferring fee to Nawras, as determined by the TRA. This fee is passed on to the customer’s original mobile provider for transferring the number.
A live demonstration was carried out in presence of the media at the Nawras store at the main office simulating the process customers will go through in order to transfer their number to Nawras. Cormack outlined certain points that customers should remember when transferring their number to Nawras. He emphasised that customers should not cancel their existing contract before transferring, since once a mobile number is disconnected it cannot be transferred to Nawras. Also, the customers must be the registered users of the mobile number in order for them to transfer the number. “Nawras continues to listen to customer feedback through market surveys specially designed to improve its service. For example, customers told us that they found the original process of obtaining a Nawras Ajel subscription slightly cumbersome. Nawras listened and has changed the process accordingly. From today customers transferring to Nawras through Mobile Number Portability do not have to bring a salary certificate or make a deposit to purchase a new Nawras Ajel subscription. All they require is a valid Omani ID card, Resident Card or passport. Those transferring to a prepaid service need to bring one of the same documents. However, in order to offer customers more choice, prepaid customers wanting to transfer to Nawras also have the choice to migrate to postpaid and take advantage of Nawras Ajel’s best value prices,” Cormack said.To a query, Khalid Mahmood, COO, added that Nawras was ready to meet the flow of customers opting for the change.
Benefit of transferring your mobile number: Mobile Number Portability provides mobile customers in Oman with the freedom to choose between mobile providers by removing one of the most important barriers to transfer now allowing customers to keep their mobile number. Market research conducted by Nawras shows that a lot of customers would like to join Nawras, but they were hesitant because they would like to keep their mobile number.
Responding to queries, Cormack added: “The MNP clearly provides a lot of benefit to customers, as they will not have to inform their family, friends and colleagues about a new number. For business customers there are great cost savings too, since there is no need to reprint business cards, stationery, print advertising, web page, signage, and invoices.”
Why transfer to Nawras?
Since Nawras launched its commercial service and drove change in all aspects of mobile service, the people of Oman have experienced ever higher standards for mobile communications. Nawras has redefined the customer experience. Nawras Stores have become destinations of choice, with one-stop shopping for SIM-cards, handsets and bill payments, coupled with professional and friendly sales service and advice. In addition, customers can purchase Nawras welcome packs at over 500 points of sale as well as avail recharge cards at over 10,000 locations all over the Sultanate. Nawras offers Nawras Mousbak customers other forms of recharge such as electronic recharge, credit transfer and bank recharge; whilst Nawras Ajel customers have convenient bill payments at over 300 locations with Bank Muscat and Oman Arab Bank. This, reinforced by caring support from Nawras customer service champions, puts Nawras in a clear leading position in providing the best service to the people of Oman.
Nawras offers pleasingly different voice and data services through its next generation mobile broadband network with a superior voice quality (low congestion and number of dropped calls) and a fast and reliable mobile data access using EDGE technology, which is another Nawras “first” in Oman. Nawras was recently benchmarked to be amongst the top 10 per cent in most of the key performance indicators (KPIs) between 110 Ericsson mobile-operated networks worldwide.
Nawras was number one in three parameters including the least dropped calls. Nawras also provides the widest network coverage in the Sultanate, through its own broadband network as well as its coverage extension by using Oman Mobile’s network as back-up. In addition, Nawras offers customers wireless high-speed internet access with Nawras Internet at attractive rates, which can be purchased and set up within minutes. Nawras is the only mobile operator in Oman offering its customers an international data-roaming service in 13 countries including all the AGCC destinations, keeping its customers in touch with their e-mails and business appointments whilst on the move abroad.
Haitham Al Kharusi added: “We are extremely pleased to have achieved this milestone. I take this opportunity to thank the cross-functional team within Nawras who have worked extremely hard for over a year with one goal in mind to serve the people of Oman with the MNP service from today.
In addition, we extend our thanks to the TRA for their continual support and guidance and to Oman Mobile and Omantel for their cooperation in ensuring that service is delivered for the benefit of all mobile consumers in Oman.”
Source- http://www.timesofoman.com
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