Omantel sees fixed line customers fall by 1.4%

MOBILE USE: More Omanis are using mobile phones, statistics show. (Getty Images)

Omantel’s fixed phone line customers have fallen by 1.4 percent this year as the number of mobile phone users rise in the sultanate.

Statistics by the National Economy Ministry showed subscribers of the firm’s fixed phone service stood at 263,801 by the end of July 2009, compared 267,475 for the same period in 2008.

Meanwhile, subscribers of Omani-Qatari Telecommunications Company (Al-Nawras) rose to 3,645,759, from 3,219,349 by the end of 2008 – an increase of 13.2 percent.

Oman has a total of 6,750 public telephones across the country – 47 more than last year.

A total of 135,601 fixed phone lines are registered in Muscat, according to the statistics, while in Al Batinah region there are 41,651. The Al Wusta region has just 374 lines.

Omantel’s internet service subscribers fell during the same time by 4.1 percent. Some 76,896 customers paid for the service by the end of July, down from 80,167 the previous year.

Oman is estimated to have 445,997 internet users, the National Economy Ministry said.

The number of internet phone service subscribers also fell by 14.2 percent from 26,702 in 2008 to 22,899 by the end of July.

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