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Omantel participates in the Middle East Telecom Summit (MVNO) 2013

Omantel, the leading telecom operator in the Sultanate, had recently participated in the Middle East Telecom Summit in Dubai, UAE organized by Informa Telecoms & Media. Omantel’s representative, Eng. Yasser Redha Al Lawati (Manager National Accounts, Wholesale Business Unit) delivered a presentation on the success story of Omantel and its Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) partners. The presentation showcased Omantel’s experience being the first operator to host MVNOs in the Middle East since 2009. It emphasized on the strong partnership between Omantel and the MVNOs as well as the deployed business strategies in this domain. It also highlighted the positive results harvested due to the wise and successful strategy and how this story has become a reference for the MVNOs business in the whole region.

Yasser also took an active role in a panel discussion on the importance of having well prepared contract between the host operators and MVNOs prior to launch. He shared Omantel’s experience on how the contract between Omantel and its MVNO partners was prepared and how it was amended over time to cater for business requirements and market changes in a way that supports all partnering parties.

The participation of Omantel was highly recognized during the event. Many of the attendees found it insightful and experience-rich. In response to the success of its contribution in this event, Omantel was invited by the event organizer to participate in the coming MVNO World Congress in Berlin to share the success story on a global forum. Furthermore, Omantel was invited by the iMVNOx (a working group under the GSMA) to join as a key member and lead some activities in the Middle East Chapter.

Omantel was not only recognized by its MVNO partners, but also by several independent consultants who presented case studies which praised Omantel’s strategy on deploying MVNOs in an efficient way benefitting all partnering parties to gain market share and focus on segmentation. Antonio Rodriguez-Moral, the Managing Director of Business Consultancy at Altran stated in his penetration that “By crafting and executing an appropriate MVNO strategy, Omantel has been able to shift a challenging competitive trend in the market segments previously better served by the competitor. As a result, Omantel counterbalanced the trend of market share erosion by gaining wholesale volumes. Combining retail and wholesale subscribers, Omantel has been able to get back to the higher side of overall market share”.

MVNOs refer to telecom service providers who do not own their own full-fledged telecom network. They have different forms depending on their license, business direction and technical setup. In Oman, the existing type of MVNOs is known as Mobile Resellers. They are Class II telecom licensees who do not have their own network elements. They are wholesale buyers from telecom operators and have independent marketing, branding, sales and customer care functionalities.

The successful partnership model that was created between Omantel and the MVNOs helped both customers and the sector alike. The introduction of MVNOs has enabled different segments (especially those that were previously untapped) to benefit from tailored offerings as well as customized service on one hand. On the other hand, Omantel has been able to reverse a global phenomenon of decreasing network market share of incumbent operators as it was successful in increasing its network market-share to more than 58%, thanks to Omantel victorious strategy and the win-win situation created for all parties.