For many years Oman’s mobile market was a duopoly between the incumbent telco Omantel and its challenger Ooredoo Oman. In February 2021, Vodafone Group and Oman Future Telecommunications consortium secured a license to operate the Sultanate’s third network, with services being under the Vodafone Oman brand. The new operator has been able to extend its reach based on a tower leasing arrangement signed in 2020 with Oman Tower Company.
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The anticipated launch of a third mobile network operator in the Sultanate of Oman will increase competition in the mobile sector. The current operators Omantel and Ooredoo have a similar and sizeable market share.
The telecom regulator in September 2019 approved the partnership between Vodafone Group and Oman Future Telecommunications to develop a mobile service using the Vodafone brand. In August 2020 the Ministry of Transport and Communications suggested that the third MNO could be licensed in early 2021.
In early 2020 the consortium agreed to lease mobile towers from Oman Tower Company (OTC), and this will allow them to enter the mobile market more quickly. OTC plans to build more mobile towers in Oman throughout 2020 and make these available for infrastructure sharing.