The mobile phone penetration rate in the sultanate reached 190.29 per cent at the end of Q4 2012, taking Oman past most countries in the world with few exceptions like Macau (275 per cent) and Hong Kong (230 per cent).
Oman's figures are also well above the global and Middle East mobile penetration rate of 89 per cent and 106 per cent respectively (Q4 2012), according to the Ericsson Mobility Report 2012.
The statistics show growth in the telecom sector across major fields with the most substantial increase in number of fixed broadband subscribers, which is up by 11.5 per cent from 101,649 subscribers in Q3 to 113,324 in Q4.
Of the total broadband subscribers, 85.78 per cent had access to speed more than 2Mbps and less than 10Mbps.
Fixed-line subscribers increased by 1.3 per cent (from 300,599 to 304,545), mobile subscribers by 2.6 per cent (from 5.14mn to 5.27mn) and a significant growth of 10.2 per cent (from 108,361 to 119,398) was witnessed in the fixed Internet subscriber base.
Meanwhile, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority's latest Telecom Market Indicators Report for period October-December 2012 indicates that post-paid mobile subscribers stood at 464,670 at the end of Q4 2012 showing an increase of 1.16 per cent compared to previous quarter.
Further, there were 4.81mn pre-paid mobile subscribers were - an increase of 2.71 per cent compared to Q3 2012.
Overall, Oman Mobile had a market share of 48.4 per cent while Nawras had 40.7 per cent.
Resellers achieved 10.9 per cent market share during the reported quarter.
For fixed line subscribers, the penetration rate was 10.98 per cent, with 1.3 per cent increase over Q3, and Internet penetration per 100 households went up to 29.68 per cent from 26.94 per cent, an increase of 10.2 per cent.
Active mobile broadband penetration rate/100 inhabitants increased from 57.42 per cent to 59.35 per cent, an increase of 3.4 per cent over previous quarter.
Apart from the growth in numbers, the revenues for the telecom sector also showed signs of improvement.
According to the TRA report, the average revenue per unit (ARPU) per month from fixed telephone increased from RO9.85 to RO10.27, which in the earlier quarter had declined from RO11.90 in Q2 to RO9.85 in Q3.
On average, each mobile subscriber contributed monthly revenue of RO8.1 from earlier RO7.8.
Although overall growth has been witnessed, the number of public phones has remained at 6,801 for last nine quarters, generating RO2.31, as ARPU per month.
The popularity of BlackBerry services has also been on the wane, with number of users dropping by 8.6 per cent, representing 2.7 per cent of the total mobile subscribers' base at the end of Q4 as compared to three per cent at the end of Q3.
The dip was also visible in the total volume of sent SMSes to 626mn from 908mn, which is 31.1 per cent less compared to Q3.
The number of MMS too dropped during Q4 by 35.4 per cent, reaching a total of 3.1mn.
© Muscat Daily 2013
