The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) held a symposium on Professional Mobile Radio service (PMR) with the participation of experts from a telecom consultant (Orbion Consulting) specialized in mobile radio sector. The event was also attended by international and local telecommunications companies. The symposium aims to discuss scientific concepts related to managing and organizing telecommunications services solutions that are mainly used for commercial and industrial companies including oil companies, international airports and seaports, as well as companies operating in construction projects and large scale public services. This service provides instant communications solutions for institutions who wish to use their own telecommunications networks. Radio service is one of the most practical services to transfer voice communications and information data between a group of subscribers as this service is characterized by its convenience in making phone calls and operability of direct communication between a group of subscribers, and is also adopting a high degree of data security.
In this regard, Mohamed bin Hamoud Al Kindi, Senior Manager Technical Affairs Unit, said that the TRA is organising this symposium to invite specialized telecommunications companies and to open the market for competition to introduce a new operator for this service so as to cover the needs of institutions, companies and public service facilities, as well as institutions who wish to make use of these systems in the future.
Al Kindi also pointed out that the Sultanate will implement large-scale projects in the future and this service may be a catalyst for communication system for such projects, both in the implementation phase, or in the operational phase.
It is worth mentioning that now there are private communications networks to operate mobile radio service for some oil and gas companies in the Sultanate, which is currently managed by such companies.
The Managed PMR service will provide one telecommunication infrastructure, which capacity and services are shared by the organizations subscribed to use the service. The Operator shall ensure that there is enough capacity in the network to serve all of its user organizations with satisfactory speed and quality.
Using Managed PMR services would release companies, organizations and authorities from purchasing own radio and transmission equipment, installing, operating and maintaining the network as well as from paying for own Radio Licenses. Instead, the user organization would pay only for the usage of the Managed PMR service to the Operator.
TRA is expecting that the Managed PMR services will gain economics of scale, more efficient use of frequency spectrum, more efficient use of the infrastructure investment and improved efficiency of the telecom personnel. This should be reflected in the reasonable costs of using the service compared to the total costs of owning and running dedicated radio networks by individual companies, organizations and authorities.
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About TRA:
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority was established in 2002 to liberalize and promote telecommunication services in the Sultanate under the Telecom Act. TRA is committed to develop the telecommunications sector in the Sultanate by regulating and maintain telecom services, promoting the spread of the telecommunication services protecting the interest of the beneficiaries, and ensuring that consumers receive international-standard quality of telecommunication services.
For further information please contact the TRA Media & Consumer Affairs Department:
Hilal O. Al Siyabi
Media & Consumer Affairs Manager
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority - TRA
(+968 24 574 339
7+ 968 24 563 193
www.tra.gov.om
© Press Release 2013
