Annual Report 2010

Keeping Oman Online,
On Call and On Air
TRA Annual Report 2010

TRA Annual Report and Accounts 2010

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said

Chairman’s Message
On behalf of TRA, I take the opportunity
of presenting the 7th Annual Report of
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
(TRA) of the Sultanate of Oman for the year
of 2010. Yet again, the year 2010 was the
busiest year with a number of regulatory
initiatives. So far TRA has been successful in
sustaining the competitive market and would
like to continue its efforts towards realising
its potential to foster competition and protect
customers. In addition, TRA continued to
make progress by promoting a culture of
excellence and treated all challenges as
opportunities to further enhance our local
market attractiveness and to develop prudent
regulations towards public resources.
Some of TRA’s achievements during the year were:
• Granting Class II licenses to Samatel & Injaz as mobile
resellers.
• Hosting the Middle East Spectrum Conference.
• Tendering the USO pilot project to support the Sultanate
of Oman’s e-Governance initiatives.
• Implementing ERP for Key functions of TRA.
During the years to come TRA will continue to:
• Further Increasing liberalisation with fair competition.
• Accelerating infrastructure expansion.
• Improving work procedures for better serving its clients.
• Facilitating the competition on the fixed Telecom services
in Oman which have been introduced recently.
While placing my sincere appreciation to the TRA members,
the staff and our investors and operators who were
instrumental to the achievements of TRA, I am confident
that with the continued support of our stakeholders along
with valued guidance by Members together with dedication
and hard work of staff, TRA will continue to protect
consumer interest, promote fair competition and adopt
international best practices in tackling the future issues with
more confidence and TRA will efficiently and effectively
meet the new challenges and opportunities during 2011
and years to come.
Also, on behalf of the Authority, I would like to express my
profound and sincere gratitude to His Majesty Sultan
Qaboos Bin Said for His vision and guidance and we pray
to the Almighty to grant His Majesty good health, prosperity
and strength to lead country in the strides of development.
Mohammed Nasser Al Khasibi
Chairman

01 About the TRA 02
1.1 Vision and Mission 02
1.2 Functions and Responsibilities 02
02 Highlights of 2010 04

03 Liberalisation of Telecom Sector – An Overview 06
3.1 New Services 06
3.2 Launch of Nawras Fixed Services 07
3.3 Launch of Resellers (Samatel, Injaz) 07
04 Telecom Sector Indicators 09
4.1 Market Share of Licensees: 09
4.1.1 Subscribers and Penetration Rates 09
4.1.2 Telecom Sector Revenues 11
4.1.3 Employment in Telecom Sector 11
4.2 ARPU Analysis 12
4.3 Market Players Analysis: 13
4.3.1 Mobile Segment Market Share 13
4.3.2 Fixed Line Segments 14
4.4 Promotions and New Services 15
4.5 Quality of Service 16
05 Policy Framework and Regulations 17
5.1 Legislation and Legal Studies: 17
5.1.1 Decisions Issued by the Authority in 2010 17
5.1.2 Updating the Regulation of Short Range Devices (SRD) 19
5.1.3 The Legal Studies 19
5.1.4 Dispute Resolution and Litigation 19
06 Competition 22
6.1 Role of TRA in increasing Competition 22
6.2 Competition Framework 22
6.3 Accounting Separation 23
6.4 Resolution of Competition Issues/Complaints 23
6.5 Tariff Trends 24
07 Developments in Universal Service Policy Implementation 30
7.1 Role of TRA in the implementation of USO projects 30
7.2 ITA National PC Initiative 30
7.3 The Tendering Process of the first USO Pilot Project 30
7.4 Telecentres Framework 31
Contents

08 Other Developments 33
8.1 Domain Names 33
8.1.1 Awarding of .om infrastructure development
and implementation project 33
8.1.2 Numbers and domain names allocated during 2010 33
8.1.3 Arabic language internet domains:
Approved obtained (‫.نامع‬) from ICANN 34
8.2 Numbering Plan 34
8.2.1 Numbering Management System 34
8.3 IPv6 34
8.3.1 IPv6 awareness campaign 34
8.3.2 Launch of IPv6 website 35
8.4 Type Approval of Telecom Equipment 35
8.4.1 Issuance of equipment labelling guidelines 35
8.4.2 Number of type approved equipment during 2010 35
8.4.3 Testing of CRM for all type approval
transactions in offline mode 35
8.5 Private Networks not connected to Public Networks 36
8.6 Cybercafé Study 36
8.7 Inspection of Spectrum Users 36
8.8 Radio Licensing 36
09 Working for Consumers 38
10 Public Consultations/Studies 41
10.1 Competition Framework 41
10.2 Tariff Framework for Corporate Offers 41
10.3 WiFi Hot Spot Public Consultation 41
10.4 SMS/MMS Study 41
10.5 Draft decision for Non-Public Services 42
10.6 Access Deficit Contribution 42
11 Local and International Events 44
11.1 Local and Regional Events 44
11.2 Participation in Local and Regional Events 44
11.3 International and Regional Representations 45
11.4 Participation in International Events 45
11.5 Outgoing and Visiting Delegations 47
12 Capacity Building for TRA 49
12.1 Omanization 49
12.2 Training 49
12.3 Career development 49
12.4 ISO certification 49
12.5 ERP 49
12.6 Customer Relationship Management system (CRM) 49
12.7 Social Events 50
12.8 Advanced automated spectrum management system 50
13 2010 Financial Statement 52

01
About
the TRA
01

02
The Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority (TRA) was established in
2002, to liberalise and regulate the
telecommunications services in the Sultanate
of Oman.
The Authority comprises of three members,
one of them is a Chairman, and two full-time
members.
1.1 Vision and Mission
Vision:
To be the most efficient and effective organisation in Oman,
enabling the provision of world-class telecommunications
services to all.
Mission:
Set up and implement a fair, flexible, efficient telecom-
munications regulatory framework that will:
• Develop the industry through a market-drive environment,
• Ensure accessibility of all kinds of services within limits
to all,
• Balance the interests of all stakeholders, and
• Align with Vision 2020.
1.2 Functions and Responsibilities

The TRA is committed to develop the telecommunications
sector in the Sultanate by regulating telecom services,
promoting the interest of telecommunications services
providers and beneficiaries, and ensuring that consumers
receive a world-class telecommunication services, with a
wide range of choices at affordable prices.
The Authority’s policies and regulations aim at the
development of infrastructure and increasing private
investment in the sector, which will benefit the Sultanate’s
economy and in turn, its citizens as stipulated in the
Telecommunications Regulatory Act.
Section 01:
About the TRA

Highlights
of
2010
02
03

Section 02:
Highlights of 2010
The year 2010 brought about a number
of revolutionary changes in the telecom
sector in the Sultanate, giving consumers
more flexibility and options with respect to
availability of services.
The TRA held various consultations for the awareness of
consumers, various projects were launched to meet the
long-term vision of Oman Digital Society (eOman), and to
encourage investment in the ever growing Telecom Sector
of the Sultanate. Following are the highlights:
• Grating Class II license to Samatel Injaz as mobile
resellers.
• Nawras launched its fixed services in July 2010,
encouraging further competition in the fixed line voice
segment and broadband internet services.
• The TRA approved 38 new services, and119 promotional
Tariff Proposals.
• Total of 3,674 new Radio Frequency licenses were
issued, 26% up from year 2009.
• Total of 6,464 of new frequencies assigned.
• Seven regulatory decisions were issued during year
2010.
• Mobile phone subscriber base grew more than 5% in
2010, reaching penetration rates as high as170%.
• The new policy framework of telecom sector was
forwarded to the Council of Ministers through MOTC
during 2010.
• TRA staff participated in 73 national, regional and
international events in 2010.
• 93% Omanization reached by the end of 2010.
• Five Disputes and complaints on account of anti-
competitive conducts were handled.
0404

05
Liberalisation
of Telecom
Sector – an
Overview
03
05

06
Section 03:
Liberalisation of Telecom Sector – An overview
3.1 New Services
The telecom sector is a continuously
developing and dynamic sector. The sector
witnessed the introduction of number of
new services by the different market players
in 2010 for both residential and corporate
customers.
Below is a highlight of some of the new services which were
approved by the TRA during the year:
• A number of major corporations in the Sultanate have
expressed their interest in acquiring leased line services
at high capacities up to 155 Mbps Omantel was
previously providing their customers leased line circuits
up to 2Mbps bandwidth capacity. The service is of great
use to big corporate users and government institutions
that require high bandwidth and speed of internet for
more efficient processing. Omantel responded to the
demand for the service by offering the retail tariffs for the
digital national leased line circuit for E3 and STM-1 at the
beginning
of 2010.
• Carrier Selection (Nawras Select) is a service which was
introduced by Nawras for fixed voice service. It would
allow users to select other network to make international
calls. Postpaid subscribers will be able to make the
service by subscription, there will be no monthly charges
incurred by using carrier select. This service was
approved by the TRA as part of the approval for the
Nawras Fixed residential and business products in
mid-2010. Upon launch it would enhance competition in
the market.
• Blackberry services were provided to postpaid
customers by Nawras and Oman Mobile in the past, the
uptake for the services was not as strong as expected.
The introduction of the Blackberry services to prepaid
subscribers in 2010 by Oman Mobile and then Nawras
has dramatically boosted the uptake and usage of the
service. Both operators also amended their packages
and introduced more valuable plans to meet their
subscriber’s requirements. The TRA also ensured that
both operators comply with transparency measures in
terms of tariffs and fair usage policy.
• Online Services, the operators are both currently
providing their customers new and easy facilities through
their websites such as online payments of their fixed and
mobile services. Customers can also recharge their
prepaid phones from the operator’s website at any time.
Such initiatives enhance the uptake of the e-services
and help avoiding interruption of the services due to
non-payment.
• Nawras launched VoIP service in conjunction with the
Nawras fixed service products for both business and
residential consumers. The fixed VoIP service provides
the opportunity for Nawras’ customers to make low cost,
lower quality international calls using Nawras’ fixed
products via the prefix 0902.
• Omantel International Calling Card is a product in the
form of calling cards which uses Jibreen calling card
platform. The service is accessible through any fixed
or mobile phone by any service provider in the
Omani market.
• Video Feed Distribution was the service launched by
Omantel for 30 days during the Asian Beach Games,
which were held in the Sultanate in December 2010. This
service provided a very critical and essential service to all
TV stations which needed to broadcast news and
highlights of the Asian Beach Games from Oman.

07
3.2 Launch of Nawras Fixed Services
After receiving Class I License for the fixed services, Nawras
launched their fixed services in the second half of 2010.
Nawras is providing their fixed services through the WiMAX
network in the Sultanate.
Nawras first launched their fixed services to Business
customers in May 2010. The products consisted of Nawras
Fixed Voice, Nawras Fixed Internet, Nawras Leased Line,
Nawras Carrier Select. Prior to the launch Nawras held a
nationwide pre-registration campaign to assess the areas
with the highest demand and interest for the service. The
Nawras residential services consist of the following
products; Nawras Home Broadband and Voice, and
Nawras Carrier Select.
The Nawras packages gave customers flexibility in terms of
price and selecting the required services according to their
requirements where they can opt to subscribe to a
standalone voice bundle or just a broadband package or
both. This feature is expected to be of great value to many
consumers since they do not wish to subscribe to voice
services and only require the broadband. Customers can
subscribe on a postpaid or prepaid category as they have
the option to choose the option that suits them.
We believe that the launch of the second fixed service
provider will have a positive impact on the telecom market.
We expect that the carrier selection option could also give
more advantages to customers and drive the prices of
international calls and calls to other networks down. The
new features in the Nawras fixed service packages makes
them more flexible and attractive to users, and will definitely
have a great impact on the demand for the fixed service
and its competitiveness. We expect that this would be
a great driver for future reductions in price and the creation
of more innovative price plans by the fixed operators in
the Sultanate.
3.3 Launch of Resellers (Samatel, Injaz)
The year 2010 also witnessed the launch of two new mobile
resellers; Injaz Telecom and Samatel. Their price plans and
packages provided an additional alternative for mobile
prepaid users and a wider range of price plans to
choose from.

Telecom
Sector
Indicators
04
08

09
The following Table summarises the Market status in Oman:
Market Segment
No. of Subscribers (in ‘000) Penetration %* No. of Operators/Service Provid-
ers
2010 2009 Change 2010 2009 Change 2010 2009 Change
Mobile 4,606 3,970 16.0% 171% 138% 23.9% 2 2 0.0%
Fixed Telephone Lines 281 296 -5.1% 10.4% 10.4% 0.0% 2 1 100.0%
Fixed Internet 74 78 -5.1% 18.4% 22.8% -19.3% 2 1 100.0%
Fixed Broadband 52 41 26.8% 13.1% 12.0% 9.2% 2 1 100.0%
Mobile Broadband 1,847 1,226 50.7% 68.6% 42.8% 60.3% 2 2 0.0%
Resellers 459 240 91.3% 17.0% 8.4% 103.5% 5 3 66.7%
4.1 Market Share of Licensees:
4.1.1 Subscribers and Penetration Rates
5,000,000
4,500,000
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
200%
175%
150%
125%
100%
75%
50%
25%
0%
Subscribers
■ Subscribers • Penetration Rate
Mobile Subscribers and Penetration Rate
*Fixed internet/fixed broadband penetrations have been calculated per100 households, while mobile and fixed telephone lines penetrations are per100 inhabitants.
Section 04:
Telecom Sector Indicators
The telecom sector in Oman has been progressing steadily
after the liberalisation policy was introduced in 2003. Till
date, there are two integrated competitors in the mobile/
fixed line markets; Omantel and Nawras. Competition in the
mobile market gained further pace in 2010, with the launch
of another two resellers of mobile services (Injaz Samatel)
to the already existing three resellers which launched their
services during 2009 (Renna, Friendi and Mazoon). This
boosted penetration rate in the segment, which reached
to 171%. As of the end of 2010, mobile services achieved
coverage of 97% of the population in the Sultanate.
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Fixed/
Inhabitant
Broadband/
Household
Internet/
Household
18.4%
13.1%
10.4%
Penetration Rates per100 inhabitant/household
4,606,133
3,970,563
3,219,349
2,600,000
1,818,024
1,333,225
171%
138.29%
117.4%
97%
72.5%
56.4%
•
•
•
•
•
•
In contrast to the growth and penetration rates of fixed line
services, there has been an unprecedented increase in the
number of mobile phone subscribers.

10
350 K
300 K
250 K
200 K
150 K
100 K
50 K
0 K
-50 K
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Fixed
Lines
Total Fixed
Broadband
Internet
281,755
73,908
52,630
No. of Subscribers (K=000)
• Mobile phone subscribers have increased significantly
over a period of six years, demonstrating a growth of
almost 245% since 2005. The number of mobile
subscribers in 2010 has shown 16% increase from 2009.
The penetration rate at the end of 2010 reached 171% as
compared to138% at the end of 2009.
• Fixed telephone line penetration has remained constant
during the last two years at10.4%.
• Internet Penetration per household reached 18.4% by
year 2010 with 19.3% reduction from year 2009, while
fixed broadband penetration rate has increased by 9.2%.
Subscribers:
• Fixed Line: In general elsewhere in the world, fixed lines
have shown a downward trend and Oman is not an
exception. As of 31st December, 2010, the number of
fixed lines stands at approximately 281,755, a drop of
almost 5% from the previous year. Fixed line market is
currently facing a declining trend. However, penetration
rate remained the same at 10.4% during the last
two years.
• Fixed Internet: The year 2010 witnessed a decrease in
number of internet subscribers by almost 5.1% to 73,908
compared to 78,135 in 2009.
• Fixed Broadband: By 2010, total fixed broadband
subscribers base reached to 52,630 subscribers,
registering a growth rate of 26.8% as compared to year
2009. This is mainly due to the demand created by the
increase and growth of corporations as well as
government institutions and various e-government
initiatives.
• Mobile Broadband: Mobile internet services have been
successfully launched by both Nawras in 2008 and
Oman Mobile in 2009 and both operators continued their
services during 2010. This indicator has been calculated
using the assumptions that all the mobile subscribers
having 3G supported handsets are considered mobile
broadband subscribers. By December 2010, both the
operators had total of 1,847,223 mobile broadband
subscriptions, registering 69% penetration rate. An
increase of 50.7% from the previous year.
• Estimated Internet Users and Penetration Rate:
By the end of 2010, there were a total of 1,670,774
estimated internet users. An increase of 13.14% from the
previous year.

11
4.1.3 Employment in Telecom Sector
The workforce in the telecom sector has increased by
27.6% since 2005 (which includes Omantel, Oman Mobile,
Nawras, Friendi, Renna, Injaz, Samatel and TRA). The
following chart shows the total employment of the sector.
4,000
3,500
3,000
2,500
2,000
1,500
1,000
500
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
3,005 3,212 3,306
3,612 3,598
3,833
■ Total Employment
Employees
Employment in the Telecom Sector
Contribution to Telecom Sector Revenues
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
■ Fixed Voice and Internet Revenue ■ Mobile Revenue
43%
39%
36%
31%
33%
30%
57%
61%
64%
69% 67%
70%
Contribution
4.1.2 Telecom Sector Revenues
There was a total of RO 634.979 Million revenue generated
by the telecom sector with a slight decline of 0.02% in the
current year as compared to the previous year.
The contribution of revenue from fixed line and internet
services has declined over the past five years. On the other
hand, the share of revenues from mobile services has
increased from 57% in 2005 to 70% in 2010. This can be
attributed to the huge increase in the subscriber base in the
mobile phone market.
The following charts depict the above situation graphically.
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
355.244
452.071
550.449
587.626
635.086 634.979
■ Total Revenue
Telecom Sector Revenue (RO Millions)

12
Mobile ARPU
Fixed Line Services ARPU
Payphone ARPU
Fixed Internet ARPU
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2007 2008 2009 2010
11.7
10.6
9
8.1
ARPUs/Month(RO)
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2007 2008 2009 2010
17.3
15.7
13.2 12.9
ARPUs/Month(RO)
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
2007 2008 2009 2010
66
24
10
4.2
ARPUs/Month(RO)
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
2007 2008 2009 2010
19.2
23.1
30.0
29.1
ARPUs/Month(RO)
4.2 ARPU Analysis:
Service-wise ARPUs are show in the following charts:
• Mobile: The ARPU from mobile operations have
declined by 10%, down to RO 8.1 per month in 2010,
from RO 9 per month in 2009.
• Fixed Line: The ARPU from fixed line services showed
gradual decline over the past four years. From year 2009
above, 2% decline was recorded for fixed line ARPU.
• Payphone: This has shown a noticeable decline of 58%
from the previous year, falling from around RO 10 per
month in 2009 to RO 4.2 per month in 2010. Mobile
services, especially the prepaid segment, have
contributed to this decline in the demand and use of
payphones, due to ease of availability throughout the
Sultanate and the convenience of use of mobile phones.
• Fixed Internet: There has been a slight decline in fixed
Internet ARPU by 3%. (Note: ARPU is calculated based
on number of subscribers, not users).
Even though the internet penetration levels have been low,
the ARPU from internet services have been on the rise.
It has increased from RO 19.2 per month in 2007 to
RO 29.1 per month in 2010.

4.3 Market Players Analysis:
4.3.1 Mobile Segment Market Share
Mobile Market Segmentation Mobile Prepaid Subscribers Market Share

13
• The prepaid subscribers clearly form the bulk of users in
the mobile segment, accounting for 91% of the
subscriber base (4,192,122 prepaid subscribers), and the
rest being accounted for by postpaid connections of
414,011 subscribers. Customers find it more convenient
to use prepaid services since they have more control
over their usage and spending and there is no hassle of
payment of bills.
• Despite the introduction of mobile resellers in the market,
Oman Mobile and Nawras still hold the major market
share in Oman. It is however worthy to take note of the
fact that resellers have been in the market for almost two
years, and have already captured a share of around11%.
■ 9% Postpaid
■ 91% Prepaid
■ 11% Resellers
■ 45% Oman Mobile
■ 44% Nawras
Mobile Prepaid Subscribers, 2010
Subscribers
2,500K
2,000K
1,500K
1,000K
500K
0K
Jan Feb March April May June July August Sept Oct Nov Dec
■ Nawras ■ Resellers■ Oman Mobile
1,681,260
1,719,427
1,762,121
1,802,769
1,834,878
1,848,886
1,874,574
1,881,925
1,892,115
1,884,554
1,887,473
1,893,327
1,740,902
1,765,041
1,781,214
1,787,725
1,791,350
1,795,462
1,816,930
1,831,174
1,840,367
1,829,310
1,815,408
1,839,636
254,365
282,750
300.907
318,234
331,817
351,597
362,223
375,904
387,282
398,767
410,455
459,159
• On the other hand, the market share gap between
Nawras and Oman Mobile is gradually closing, since
Nawras’ prepaid subscribers are continuing to grow at a
very fast pace. Resellers’ subscriber base has increased
rapidly from 3,586 to 459,159 subscribers during last two
years, from April 2009 to December 2010.

14
4.3.2 Fixed Line Segments
The following graph indicates the distribution of fixed lines
amongst the business and residential segments.
Percentage
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
79% 77% 75% 73% 70%
64%
■ Residential ■ Business
21% 23% 25% 27% 30% 36%
The percentage of residential lines has been on a constant
decline over the past six years. In 2005, around 80% of
fixed lines were residential. This figure declined to 64% at
the end of 2010. The reverse has happened for fixed lines
for businesses, which has shown a constant rise from 21%
in 2005, to 36% in 2010. This could be attributed to the
constant promotional offers, especially on corporate ADSL
packages and tariff revisions on fixed services. Fixed lines
are more suited to the corporate for their PABXs and
broadband internet service.
Categories of Fixed Lines (%)
0%

15
4.4 Promotions and New Services
The following table presents the number of promotions, and
new services offered during 2010:
Promotions 119
New Services 38
Revisions 22
Rejections 4
Total 183
• The TRA approved Tariffs for 38 new services, 119
promotions, 22 Revisions and there were only 4
Rejections during 2010 due to their non-compliance with
the tariff filing conditions and guidelines.
• The majority of the promotions were on international
calls, starter packs.
Some of the most important new services and tariffs which
were approved by the TRA in 2010 are summarised below:
• Flight to SMS: Nawras has offered a new content-based
service that gives the customers the ability to request
flight information to/from Muscat. This service provides
convenience for consumers to send a premium
text message instead of calling to enquire for
flights information.
• Special Needs Tariff: Nawras have launched a special
tariff plan for people who are physically impaired/
challenged which is quite a good initiative to provide
cheaper tariffs for this particular group of individuals.
• Oman Mobile Hadher: Oman mobile introduced this
value added service where Oman Mobile customers are
notified by a message that the person they have been
trying to reach is currently available in the case the
person was out of contact.
• Renna SMS2TV: Renna have launched a content-based
service that people can use their mobile phones to send
an SMS to TV channels either for voting in TV programs
or participate in competitions.
• Samatel Voicemail: Despite Samatel being a new
entrant, it already launched its voice mail service in
order to provide for its customers the advantages of
this service.
• Ajel Business Control: Nawras has launched the Ajel
business Control postpaid product that offers a single
postpaid invoice per month. The product allows the
businesses to cap individual employee expenditure by
restricting employees from using corporate credit once
the monthly credit limit has been reached. Once the
credit limit is reached, employees are required to
personally pay for any further usage in that particular
month. This service is quite useful for businesses to
control their spending which is a valuable feature Nawras
has added to the corporate segment of mobile service.

16
4.5 Quality of Service
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has always
been trying to promote and protect the interest of the users
of telecommunication services in the Sultanate and
to assure them better quality of service. To achieve this,
the TRA:
• Monitor the quality of services of the operators to ensure
that they are meeting their targets and license obligations.
• Ask the operators to publish their quality of service in the
news papers on a half yearly basis.
• Improve the QoS targets for operators to make it as per
the international best practice.
During 2010 both operators have published their QoS in the
public news papers. Consequently, it created a healthy
competition environment in the market. In addition, they
created awareness among the public about the
performance of service providers in terms of their QoS.
The QoS Indicators as published by Oman Mobile and Nawras during1st and 2nd Half of 2010 are as follows:
KPI Required KPIs
Actual Quality Achieved
1st Half of 2010 2nd Half of 2010
Oman Mobile Nawras Oman Mobile Nawras
Percentage of calls dropped Less than 0.8% 0.40% 0.23% 0.40% 0.24%
Percentage of calls blocked due
to congestion
Less than1.1% 0.41% 0.04% 0.41% 0.07%
Percentage of billing complaints
resolved within 20 working days
More than 96% 100% 100% 100% 100%
In order to accomplish the above mentioned tasks, the
Authority is actively engaged with the operators and gets
periodic reports on quality of service from all operators to
monitor their QoS targets. In case the licensee does not
meet their target as per license obligations, TRA investigates
the issues and directs the concerned operator for taking
corrective and preventive measures.
During 2010, the TRA had prepared a draft regulation on
the quality of service which included new Key Performance
Indicators for various telecommunications services. TRA
has issued Decision No.: 13/2011 dated February 12, 2011
(corresponding to 7-Rabi I-1432) in this regards.

17
5.1 Legislation and Legal Studies:
5.1.1 Decisions issued by the Authority in 2010:
The following decisions were issued by TRA during the year:
No Decision No Issuing Date Title Gazette No
1 44/2010 6/4/2010 Dispute Resolutions System 910 published on1st May
2010
2 51/2010 17/4/2010 Amending Class I License of the Omani
Qatari Telecommunications Company
(S.A.O.C) for the provisions of Basic Mobile
Telecommunication Services
910 published on1st May
2010 come into force from
the issuing date
3 67/2010 24/5/2010 Issuing Service Price Control Regulations
for Licensees providing Public
telecommunications Services in
Specific Geographical Areas.
913, on15/6/2010
4 94/2010 7/9/2010 Amending Annex (G) of Class I License of the
Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company
919, the decision come into
force from the issuing date
5 95/2010 7/9/2010 Amending Annex (F) Class I License of the
Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company
919, the decision come into
force from the issuing date
6 123/2010 24/11/2010 Amending some provisions of the
regulation organising the registration, and
Usage of frequencies and radio equipment
and their pricing
924, on1st/12/2010
7 124/2010 24/11/2010 The exemption condition of who establish,
operate, provide mobile telecommunications
services on board of airplanes from obtaining
the necessary licenses from the Authority
925 on15/12/2010
Section 05:
Policy Framework and Regulations
TR A rev iewed the sector policy
framework with the assistance of an
International Consultancy and forwarded
recommendationstotheMinistryofTransport
and Communications for consideration.
Once approved the new policy framework would serve as
the guideline and a roadmap to plan initiatives and projects
in respect of licensing, liberalisation, promotion of
competition and protection of consumer interest. The
emphasis for the sector arising out of the policy review is
the focus on development of a national broadband strategy
which is now under development by MoTC. Earlier the TRA
had completed the process of tendering and selecting a
consultant for the preparation of the strategy document.
The strategy once developed would lay down the structure
of the emerging telecom sector taking into account the
plans of the government for creating a knowledge society
and providing the broadband infrastructure.

Policy
Framework
and
Regulations
05
18

19
5.1.2 Updating the Regulation of Short Range
Devices (SRD):
TRA has shown its commitments to update the current – in
force – regulation of Short Range Devices (SRD) in order to
ensure that this regulation complies with the technological
advances and accumulated experience of applying the
SRD regulation in practice. This year updates have taken
into consideration the current development of SRD,
technological advances, staffs’ feedback of SRD regulation,
responses from applicants and reports on compatibility
issues.
5.1.3 The Legal Studies:
During 2010, TRA carried out a number of legal studies,
especially those concerned with communications and
information technology. These include the following:
• Ministerial decisions issued by the Authority and its
applications in the Telecommunications Regulatory Act.
• The legal Aspects of premium messages – SMS text
messaging service (SMS) and multimedia messaging
service (MMS).
• Criminal Procedure of Oman.
• Criminal Intent in the law of Oman.
• Civil Procedure before the courts and the policy
of reconciliation in the TRA.
Encyclopedia of the Legislation in the
Telecommunications Sector since1973:
On the occasion of the 40th National Day, the TRA
compiled a comprehensive integrated version of an
Encyclopedia of all legislation in the telecommunications
sector since the beginning of the Renaissance and until the
year 2010. The encyclopedia contains 13 Royal Decrees
starting from the Royal Decree No 6/73 of issuing the Act of
Wireless telegraphy which is the first legislative framework
for the telecommunications in the Sultanate.
It also included 49 decisions issued by the Authority, which
regulates a number of issues and topics related to
telecommunications. The Authority offered this to the
audience for facilitating the work of consultants and legal
researchers, scholars and others working in the
telecommunications sector, whether inside or outside the
Sultanate. It has been noted that large group of those
interested in information technology, were attracted. These
include telecommunication workers, lawyers and legal
researchers.
5.1.4 Dispute Resolution and Litigation
Cooperation with the judiciary
The Authority has appointed an expert for a number of
commercial, civil and administrative cases during the year
2010. The Authority upon requirement from the courts
provided technical reports on the subject of the cases. This
reflected the good level of coordination for the enforcement
of legal costs and cooperation with the courts of various
grades and types, particularly with regard to substantive
issues.
Violations and breaches
During the year 2010 the Authority has observed a number
of violations related to the telecom sector which were one of
the following: the use of radio equipment without obtaining
the necessary licenses from the Authority, provide
unlicensed telecommunications services to the public,
breaches of the Authority instructions and decision in
practicing anti-competitive behaviour.
In addition to the violations of the provisions of the Executive
Regulations and the decisions issued by the Authority in
particular with regard to the handling non typed-approved
telecommunications equipment and use of telecomm-
unications services in violation of the Executive Regulations
and breaching the provisions of access services to Internet
in public places, Internet cafes without registration or
renewal with the Authority. All of these violations have been
observed during inspection campaigns carried out by the
judicial officers of the Authority for the purpose of ensuring
the implementation of the Act, the Executive Regulations
by all.
Penalties were imposed on the violators according to the
Act which vary from issuing notifications especially for the
licensees, cutting off the Internet service from some of the
Internet Cafes for a period not exceeding a month in
accordance with the Decision No 166/2007 which was
issued on regulation of Internet Service Provision in
commercial outlets and public places. In addition, some
violation cases were transferred to the public prosecution
especially with regards to VoIP provision.

20
A number of non typed-approved equipment were
withdrawn for non-compliance and not meeting with the
technical standards adopted in the Sultanate and
accordingly penalties were imposed.
Dispute Resolution System
The issuing of the Dispute resolutions System Decision No
44/2010 was another important initiative in this year. This
mean that a legal framework has been addressed that
deals with the way how disputes between the licensees
shall be settled and the mechanism shall be used to review
the Authority decisions and determinations besides settling
beneficiaries’ complaints with the licensees.
With the issuance of the system, all audience and licensees
who wish to file a complaint to the Authority shall abide by
its procedures, especially those applications filed to appeal
to resolve disputes or requests for review or appeal on a
decision of the licensee.
The licensee must be willing to make a complaint to resolve
the existing dispute between him and the other Licensee
shall comply with the regulations set by Dispute system
framework, as follows:
I: the Preliminary Procedure
This means initial actions where the licensee, complainant
or the victim shall consider before submitting his complaint
to the Authority. Such procedure aims to provide an
opportunity to resolve the dispute amicably and without
intervention by the Authority through a number of meetings.
However, if either no agreement or settlement is reached
within 30 working days from the notification of the licensee
to the aggrieved on the request to hold a meeting to settle
the dispute, the licensee shall take the following steps to file
a complaint against the other party in the purpose of the
Authority intervening to settle the dispute.
II: Procedures for submitting a complaint
to the Authority
The licensee, wishing to refer the dispute to the Authority,
shall be obligated to file an application in the prepared form
prepared by the Authority, which is published in its website
in Arabic. The applicant may attach all the necessary
document where he has the opportunity to provide the
Authority with English copies. After the Authority make sure
that the application meet the conditions, requirement
stipulated in the system and the topic is accepted, the
Authority shall notify the applicant of its decision. At this
stage a team is assigned to study the dispute whose
responsibility to take all actions set out in the system for the
provision of petitions and memorandums of response and
contract management hearings and finally Terminator
resolution version of the dispute.
Grievance
Grievances is a beneficiary application of the appeal against
a decision issued by the company in a complaint filed by
him, whether the company’s decision to reject the complaint
refused to positive or negative, not responding within 15
days from the date of receipt, or the beneficiary is not
convinced or does not accept it. The beneficiary shall refer
to the Authority within 30 days from the date of the issuance
of company decision or the beneficiary appeal to the
Authority shall not be accepted. The petitioner shall provide
his personal information and details regarding the decision
and his main complaint. Once sure of the status of the
petitioner and meet the demand of the formalities necessary
to accept it is to proceed to research and investigation for
the issuance of the necessary resolution of the complaint
before it.
Review
A request submitted by any person requesting the Authority
for a review of its decision regarding the disputes or
grievances filed or a decision to impose an administrative
penalty. The review application shall extend to request a
review of regulatory decisions issued by the Authority.

21
Competition
06

22
Section 06:
Competition
Competition issues are of great importance
to the telecom sector and the TRA, especially
that the main objective of liberalisation of the
sector is to promote competition, which will
result in the provision of better service price
and quality.
6.1 Role of TRA in increasing Competition
One of the TRA’s main roles is to liberalise the telecom
market and increase competition. The TRA has been very
active in facilitating competition in the sector and the launch
of the services by the second fixed Licensee in 2010 is an
important milestone towards fulfilling further competition
targets in the Omani market. Nawras is currently providing
international and fixed broadband services along with
Omantel that was previously the sole fixed service provider.
The TRA is also playing a very important role in encouraging
further investment in the infrastructure to develop the
networks in the Sultanate. The TRA is coordinating with
Haya Water that is working on laying its fibre optic cables
along with its wastewater infrastructure. The laying of the
telecom infrastructure will ease the access and reduce the
costs on the fixed service providers in the future which will
definitely increase competition in the fixed and broadband
market.
There have been a number of regulatory measures taken by
the TRA to further enhance competition in the market. An
example of the regulatory measures imposed lately by TRA
was to oblige Omantel and Nawras to provide Carrier
Selection Service to increase competition.
TRA is currently in the process of preparing a competition
framework aiming at increasing investment and boosting
economic growth in the telecom sector. This process is
expected to undergo a number of stages, involving the
stakeholders through consultation papers and holding
workshops before finalising the framework.
6.2 Competition Framework
Since in the telecom sector, there is no competition law or a
competition authority to address market failures and provide
safeguards against the anti-competitive conducts by the
dominant players, the TRA needs to have a clear framework
and regulatory instruments to deal with competition related
issues.
The competition framework project aims at putting in place
a regulatory framework that structures the ex-ante and ex-
post regulatory interventions of the TRA in the telecom
market. The TRA invited Expressions of Interest from well
known consultancy firms to develop a competition
framework within which licensees are to operate in Omani
Telecommunications Markets. This Framework aims at
setting procedures and outlines the regulatory measures
that TRA will use in promoting and safeguarding
competition.
In October a public consultation for all stakeholders was
carried out by the TRA to get the public’s views and
concerns about any decision the TRA might take in the
future with regards to establishing and enforcing
competition and dominance rules.

23
6.3 Accounting Separation
The Accounting Separation project is another project that
expected to play an essential role in increasing competition
in the telecom sector in Oman resulted in the issuance of
the Accounting separation, regulatory Accounting and
reporting requirements regulation which was issued through
TRA decision no. 112/2009. The framework seeks to
ensure, among other things, that the services provided by
the different licensees to their downstream affiliate
companies are provided on similar terms to other
competitive licensees. This framework will also enable the
TRA to analyse and ascertain if any of the Licensees acts in
an anti-competitive manner in certain cases.
These Regulations will also aim at providing a framework for
preparing Separated Regulatory Accounts to be submitted
periodically to the TRA to meet its obligations under the
Telecommunications Act including to monitor the com-
pliance of the licensees with their license conditions. The
TRA held a two-day workshop in January 2010 for the
Licensees to ensure that licensees understand the
regulatory frameworks and obligations in place.
Omantel started working on the first set of separated
accounts as per the framework at the end of 2010.
6.4 Resolution of Competition Issues/Complaints
The TRA monitors the market for any anti-competitive
behaviour as well as process complaints from Licensees
with regards to such anti-competitive practices in the
market. Below is a brief of the main complaints and
resolutions reached for the complaints received:
• Complaint Regarding MPLS Service
Long-Term Contracts
Nawras raised their concern regarding Omantel’s MPLS
service contracts; they believe that the long duration of the
MPLS contracts would constitute a barrier that would
foreclose the entry to other competitors for MPLS services
provision. Nawras requested that contract periods are
shortened to two year contract periods instead of five.
The TRA issued a decision on 16 January 2010, directing
the Service Providers to provide the Customers with an
option of a short-term contract of two and three years in
addition to the long-term five-year contract. At the same
time the TRA took into consideration the cost of any
investments which the service provider has and ensured
that they can recover their investments through those
contracts and in the case of an early exist or annulment of
the contract.
• Blackberry Directives
It came to the TRA’s attention that the mobile operators
offering Blackberry services were advertising the terms and
conditions of the services in an unclear manner. Directives
were issued by the TRA instructing the Operators to remedy
the ambiguity on their websites and publications advertising
for the services. Especially on the two observations
as follows:
a. Mobile rental monthly charges are applicable; this was
not mentioned in advertising blackberry packages.
b. While the tariff information refers to a fair usage policy,
the details of such policy were not stipulated.
The TRA therefore, issued directive to both Mobile
Operators to stop using the term “Unlimited” or any
terminology of the same meaning especially in conjunction
to Fair Usage Policy (FUP) or naming Blackberry packages
under such terms, especially when they have a data limit
under the FUP.
• Nawras Misleading SMS to Customers on
Termination of Corporate Offer
In 2009, a complaint was raised by Oman Mobile against
Nawras with respect to their Corporate Closed User Group
Offer being extended to non-corporate customers. After
considering the arguments of the parties the TRA have
come to the conclusion that there is a strong need to review
the scope of corporate offerings by Mobile operators. The
TRA therefore, decided as under:
(i) The Corporate Customer shall be considered to be the
Customer under one commercial registration and solely
responsible for all payments/dues, obligations and
liabilities towards the operator irrespective of the number
of actual users in the group. Their relationship shall be
governed under one agreement with the operator. For
avoidance of doubt only employees of the corporate
customer shall be included under the corporate

24
schemes.
(ii) The mobile operators were directed to stop making
offers to any new corporate customer under the existing
extended scope, which included families of the
employees.
(iii) The mobile operators were directed to withdraw the
corporate offers from the non-employee customers
giving them reasonable notice period or providing them
alternative approved offers under intimation to TRA.
The TRA published an explanatory press release for the
knowledge and attention of the affected consumers.
• Class II Licensee Misleading Cyclone Phet Press
Release and Using the Term Operator
A Class II mobile reseller issued a press release on 21st of
June 2010 after Cyclone Phet hit the Sultanate in 2010;
indicating that it owns a network which stood up during the
difficult times of the cyclone, while this kind of achievement,
being related to service reliability is more appropriately
attributed to Class I operators. This type of news article was
considered as an indirect promotional activity. It is subject
to Decision 113/2008 of which Article 4 mandates that
“technical jargon and technology comparisons should be
used with care and promoters should not abuse the trust of
consumers or exploit their credulity, inexperience or lack of
knowledge”.
While the reseller may have the right to praise the un-
interruption of their services during the cyclone, this should
not be at the expense of undermining Class I Licensees
who build, own and operate the infrastructure. The TRA
therefore advised the reseller that the likes of the above
referred press article was not acceptable to the TRA, as it is
potentially anti-competitive.
On a different occasion, Another Class II Licensee issued a
press release describing themselves using the word
“Operator” at the time of their launch, claiming that they
“provide Omanis with the highest service quality”. This was
not compliant to Article 4 of Decision 113/2008 and since
that it was their first violation; the TRA brought this
information to their attention and advised them to be more
vigilant in the future.
• Misleading or Anti competitive content
in advertisements
There have been a number of advertisements published by
Licensees which contained misleading or anti-competitive
content in the advertisement. The TRA regularly monitors
the publications of such services and receives complaints
from affected parties and investigates such complaints. The
TRA came to a number of decisions and took regulatory
actions with regards to each anti-competitive behaviour
varying according to its severity and reoccurrence.
6.5 Tariff Trends
The market witnessed many changes and developments in
terms of the new services, price plans and tariffs being
launched or revised. Some of the main changes and tariff
trends in 2010 are illustrated by market below:
Fixed Market
Omantel has faced a continuous decline in their subscriber
base and demand for their fixed services in the past years,
especially after the launch of the second mobile licensee
and the reductions in prices in the mobile market.
Customers have found it more convenient and cheaper to
subscribe to mobile services. This trend further increased
with the launch of the mobile data services as the
customers switched to using their mobile subscriptions for
voice and data services.
To dampen this effect and to try to retrieve their market
share and further attract new subscribers to their services,
Omantel underwent a number of tariff restructuring, revision
and promotional campaigns.
In 2010, Omantel held several promotional offers for their
Home and Corporate ADSL services, where they waived
the connection or upgrade fee for new subscribers.
Omantel have tried to eliminate the barrier to entry for their
services and increase the attractiveness of their service by
offering them bundled usage capacity. Several campaigns
have also been conducted to encourage users to upgrade
from Dial- Up to broadband or to higher speeds if they are
subscribed at a lower package.

25
Omantel further revised and restructured their corporate
segment tariffs by increasing the number of E-mail Hosting
Solution Plans from two to four packages. Omantel also
provided more value to the packages by adding in more
service options, lower tariffs and choice to meet all kinds of
requirements in the corporate market. There have also been
a promotions and revisions in the prepaid fixed services
offered by Omantel (Sahl).
The launch of Nawras fixed services has had many positive
effects on the fixed telecom market. Omantel has
conducted a number of important revisions on their pricing
and tariff structure to increase their customer satisfaction
and for their prices to be more competitive in the face of the
future competition. This initiative also could help them retain
their customer base once the competition enters the
market. By the time Nawras launched their fixed service the
Omantel fixed voice packages were as follows:
Monthly
Rent (RO)
Free
Minutes
Bz/
Minute
Thereafter
(Peak)
Bz/
Minute
Thereafter
(Off-Peak)
Postpaid
Fixed1 4.9 75 15 7.5
Fixed 2 7.9 300 15 7.5
Fixed 3 9.9 450 15 7.5
Prepaid Sahl 4.0 – 20 10
*Note:
1 Calls from fixed postpaid (i.e. Fixed 1, 2 or 3) to Mobile cost 33 Bz per
Minute.
2 Calls from fixed prepaid (Sahl, Jibreen or Almultaqa) to Mobile cost 40 Bz
per Minute.
Nawras offered its subscribers the following plans:
Plan Monthly
Service
Access
Charge
(OMR)
Option1
PAYG
Option 2 Voice Bundle
On-Net
Minutes
(Nawras
Fixed
Mobile)
Monthly
Bundle
Service
Charge
(OMR)
Postpaid
Standalone
2 Available
(described
below)
100 1.9
Prepaid
Standalone
2 Available
(described
below)
100 1.9
Calls to… All Times (Bz)
On-Net Fixed 9
Off-Net Fixed 19
On-Net Mobile 29
Off-Net Mobile 39
The above tables show that the tariffs for fixed services
have gone down since customers are being offered more
valuable packages.
Omantel also revised their residential fixed tariffs, Omantel
proposed to introduce a new convenient plan for the fixed
line market that bundles unlimited calls to other Omantel’s
fixed line numbers (i.e. on-net). The proposed plan is a new
concept to the fixed market where the subscribers will enjoy
free unlimited calls to other Omantel fixed line numbers in
return for a reasonable monthly fee.
The competition has also extended to their broadband
packages. Nawras started offering more capacity at higher
speeds for a lower monthly rental than what is currently
available in the market.
Download
speed
(Kbps)
Upload
speed
(Kbps)
Monthly
Rent
GB
included
Omantel 1MB 128 19 2
Nawras 1MB 384 15 6
The end of 2010 witnessed further revisions of Omantel
fixed ADSL tariffs with bundles with higher speeds and
voice minutes being offered at a more attractive price.

26
The TRA expects 2011 to give more beneficial and crucial
reductions and value being offered to fixed subscribers with
the fixed competition from the introduction of the Nawras
fixed services to take full effect.
Wholesale National Leased Line
2 Mbps
Uncommitted
2004 2010
Within each bldg 450 80
Within exchange area 450 270
0-100Km 650 455
100-300Km 950 655
301-400Km 1,250 875
400Km 1,625 1,138
34 Mbps
Uncommitted
2004 2010
Within each bldg – 1,130
3Km – 1,404
=50Km 4,270 825
=100Km 4,686 884
=300Km 6,353 1,119
=700Km 9,686 2,055
=100Km 12,186 2,422

Wholesale Internet Leased Line
2 Mbps (3Km) Previous 2010
1 year 2,760 2,114
2 years 2,560 1,946
5 years 2,200 1,616
6 years 2,120 1,546
34 Mbps (3Km) Previous 2010
1 year 19,730 14,744
2 years 17,730 13,184
5 years 15,030 11,814
6 years 14,430 11,314
In 2010, the TRA has strongly emphasised to Omantel the
need for further revisions and rationalisation of their tariffs in
the future which should be reflected in the 2011 prices.
Omantel were given a period of time to study their
customers behaviour, requirements and demand trends for
the next step of rationalisation.
Nawras also launched their Leased Line services in 2010,
giving corporate and wholesale customers further
advantage of choice and competition which we believe
would further price leased line tariff prices down.
Mobile Market
Oman Mobile revised their Hayyak Prepaid pricing by
changing their off-peak price and timing to increase their
competitive edge against Nawras Mousbak who has longer
Leased Line Market
Leased Line tariffs have been continuously decreasing
since 2009; Omantel has revised the tariffs of a number
of their wholesale services such as their leased line,
MPLS, IPLC. The table below shows the reductions in the
wholesale leased line tariffs in the year 2010 compared to
what they were in 2004.
off-peak hours and a lower tariff. Oman Mobile also
changed their charging increments from 30 second
increments to increments of 60 seconds. Customers have
been porting out to the cheaper network with longer off-
peak hours. This facilitated the competitors to adapt to the
current market situation and offer their subscribers a similar if
not a more attractive package to increase their market share.
Oman Mobiles reduction also caused a trickle effect down
to the wholesale market. There has been a reduction in the
wholesale prepaid tariff for mobile resellers; Oman Mobile
reduced the wholesale price around 13% on national voice
off-peak rates. This reduction during the off-peak period
further increased the reseller’s competitiveness allowing the
resellers to increase their margin, traffic and market share.

27
Mobile Tariffs

Oman mobile Nawras
Postpaid Year Year
2005 2010 **2005 2010
OMR OMR
SIM Pack Charge 17 2 19 5
monthly rental 4 3 6 3
60 minutes
BZ/min BZ/min
Calling rate Peak 45 19 On-net 49 19
Off-peak 35 29 Off-net 49 39
SMS national 10 10 10 10
international 50 50 50 50
MMS national 50 45 50 45
Prepaid Year Year
2005 2010 2005 2010
OMR OMR
SIM Pack Charge 20 5 19 5
Talk time included 5 3 5 2
Bz/min Bz/min
Calling rate* Peak 55 55 55 55
Off-peak 55 39 45 39
SMS Peak 10 10 20 10
Off-peak 10 10 10 10
SMS international Peak 50 50 50 50
Off-peak 50 50 50 50
MMS national 50 45 50 45
* Calling rate in 2005 was charged per minute in the first minute and then 30 seconds intervals. Now charging is per 60 second intervals only.
** Nawras 2005 price plan1 is taken as an example for comparison which was the cheapest available plan.

28
Mobile Tariffs
The table opposite shows the mobile tariffs for the main
mobile services offered by Oman Mobile and Nawras in the
years 2005 and 2010. The table clearly shows a reduction in
the SIM prices and monthly rental in the past five years. This
has caused the mobile service penetration to dramatically
increase during this period. However, the usage tariffs have
not changed much in the past five years and remained very
close to each other for both mobile operators.
The only tariff movements have been due to the promotional
activities which are carried out throughout the year by the
operators which offer free subscriptions or free or bundled
minutes or lower international calls during a period of one to
three months.
Both mobile operators have offered their subscribers a
wider range of packages and price plans to choose from
which offer customers bundled minutes, mobile broadband
capacity or SMS depending on the customer’s
requirements.
The mobile operators are moving towards a flat rate tariff,
which provides customers with a clear, simple and uniform
rate for their calls. The operators mostly focus on on-net
calls for such plans to encourage uptake for the plan and
increase their subscriber base. The main examples of such
plans are the Mada and Hayyak Liberty and Mada Inifinity
offered by Oman Mobile where customers get free on-net
voice and SMS calls or get charged per call in Mada Infinity
and get other bundled 3G usage etc. Nawras has a very
successful promotional campaign called Stop the Clock for
their postpaid and prepaid subscribers which offered their
customers charges for three minutes of their on-net calls
and the rest of their call will be ‘free’.

29
Developments
in Universal
Service Policy
Implementation
07

30
Section 07:
Developments in Universal
Service Policy Implementation
7.1 Role of TRA in the implementation of USO projects
In the Sultanate of Oman, through the
liberalisation process and market reforms, the
TRA aims at expanding telecommunications
access networks to cover a wider proportion
of the population and geographical areas
of the country. However, due to economic
reasons, the telecom service providers are
not expected to venture into economically
unattractive areas to develop telecom
networks and provide telecommunication
services. Thus, many rural and remote
areas in the Sultanate may continue to lack
telecommunications access for some time
until some support and initiative is provided
by the Government.
The TRA has carried out a study with the assistance of a
consultant to develop Universal Service Policy and
Implementation Strategy for the Sultanate of Oman. The
policy set out how the Authority plans to implement the
Universal Service projects in Oman. The council of ministers
has approved the USO Policy on June 2nd, 2009.
As per the Universal Service Policy, the scope of universal
services in Oman includes the following;
• Basic telephony services (voice); using the fixed or
mobile network.
• Public internet access with minimum speed of 512Kbit/
second.
• Broadband access for Government institutions (schools,
hospitals, police stations etc.) with minimum speed of
2MB/second.
• The provision of emergency services and the public
phone at places which prevents the use of mobile phone,
in addition to (Free) directory/operator services.
• Telecentres.
The above list of services reflects the objectives of the TRA,
the ITA, the MoTC and other Government stakeholders; in
implementing the ‘Digital Oman’ strategy which will require
wide spread of internet access across the country. The
USO Policy document serves as a guideline on how the
obligations set out in the Article (38) of the telecom Act are
met and to ensure the availability and provision of the set of
telecom services in Oman.
7.2 ITA National PC Initiative
In November 2010, as part of 40th National Day initiatives
both operators submitted proposals to provide laptop
computers under the PC initiatives of ITA. A Framework for
providing broadband connections under the ITA National
PC initiative for the social welfare beneficiaries approving
the tariff plans for a period of twelve months was provided
after which the evaluation of the plans will be carried out by
both the TRA and ITA to decide on the next step. As for the
categories of teachers and higher education students, the
promotional tariff plans were approved for a period of three
months. The approval came as a valuable and well timed
complimentary support for the ITA initiative which was
announced with His Majesty’s gracious gift to the social
welfare beneficiaries with PC’s during the 40th National Day
Celebrations.
7.3 The Tendering Process of the first USO
Pilot Project
TRA plans to implement the USO projects to cover the rural
areas in Oman through public tendering process. The first
USO tender, which is pilot project, was floated in October
2009 and area selected for the pilot project is Al-Batinah-
South, which has been selected based on the following
criteria envisaged in the USO policy:
• The presence of institutions such as schools, hospitals,
government offices, police stations, and post offices.
• Potential welfare increases through demand (consumer
surplus) and economic development in some areas
which include the population density of more than 20
people with at least one government institution or in a
targeted village with a population of more than 100
people if no government institution exists.
• Current lack of provision of USO services (‘un-served’
and ‘under-served’ areas).
• High cost areas.
• Low likelihood of commercial viability.

31
However, based on the feedback received from the pre-
qualified bidders on the terms and conditions of the USO
tender and due to the difficult terrain of the project area and
the low population in the designated settlements, TRA
revised the tender document and re-invited the pre-qualified
bidders on 17 July 2010 to submit their proposals based on
revised terms and conditions. Despite favourable changes
no acceptable bid was received in the second round.
As per the Act and the tender document/IM conditions, in
case no reasonable bid is received, the TRA will terminate
the tendering process and proceed as per Article (39) of the
Act. Therefore, TRA has invited Omantel, on 22 December
2010, to submit its proposal under Article (39) of the Act in
accordance with the terms and conditions stipulated in the
USO Information Memorandum, earlier communicated to all
pre-qualified contestants. Further process and evaluation is
in progress to be concluded in 2011.
7.4 Telecentres Framework
The TRA is currently studying the implementation of
Telecentres for the Sultanate in specified geographical
locations based on set of selection criteria. The aim is to
promote the government initiative to reduce the digital
divide, to enhance social and economic development, and
to promote the e-government services in all areas. The
centre will not only address the basic communication needs
for services like voice, fax, photocopy, printing, scanning,
and Internet access but also will provide ICT trainings in
coordination with other government agencies to enhance
the local knowledge and create new job opportunities for
the area.
TRA is in the process to finalise a public consultation paper
aimed to collect feedback and views of the public and
private sector.

32
Other
Developments
08

33
Section 08:
Other Developments
8.1 Domain Names
8.1.1 Awarding of .om infrastructure development and
implementation project
According to the Telecom Act, TRA has the function of
managing the country code top-level domain names ‘.om’
which is partially being done by Omantel currently. In order
for TRA to fully pursue this function, the .om infrastructure
(registry and Domain Names System) has to be deployed.
TRA had floated a tender for the provision of the new
Domain Name Registry and DNS System and AusRegistry
International has been awarded the assignment to execute
the related works. The system will provide benefits to the
Omani community internet for many years to come.
The new Domain Name Registry System will encompass
both the existing .om country-code Top-Level Domain
(ccTLD) and the planned (.oman ) Arabic script
International country-code Top-Level Domain (IDN ccTLD).
8.1.2 Numbers and domain names allocated
during 2010
In 2010, TRA had continued its function in allocating
numbers and domain names. The following tables illustrate
the numbering resource allocations done in 2010 as
compared to those in year 2009 and 2008. It is observed
that the fixed numbering allocation has increased due to the
entry of the second fixed operator.
It is also observed that mobile numbering allocation has
declined due to optimisation of numbering resources by
TRA through issuance of directives to operators to reduce
the SIM validity period and the quarantine period.
TRA directives have helped in recovering the numbering
resources also and the same was in line with the aim of
TRA to preserve the national resources.
Numbers/Short Codes Type 2008 Allocation 2009 Allocation 2010 Allocation
Carrier Selection 0 2 3
International Signalling point codes 1 0 0
National Signalling Point Codes 22 16 20
Fixed Numbers 28,000 63,000 81,000
Mobile Numbers 600,000 1,500,000 800,000
Voice Short Codes 0 6 5
SMS Short Codes 27 216 49
Toll Free Numbers 36 42 62
‫.عمان‬

34
8.1.3 Arabic Language Internet Domains: Approval
Obtained ( ) from ICANN
In October 2010, TRA received approval from ICANN, the
international body responsible for managing and assigning
names, for the internet addresses to have its internet
domains written in Arabic. The approval was for ( ) to be
the Arabic top-level domain name for Oman.
Arabic speaking internet users will be able to use the
internet using their native language by typing directly into
their web browsers without the need to use the Latin
characters (the 26 letters “a-z”, numbers 0 to 9, and
hyphens).
TRA has passed the string evaluation process of Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN),
which is required for the launch of the internationalised top-
level domain (IDN) in Arabic language. The evaluation
process included several steps such as verification that the
selected language is official in the country of the request
and that the string requested is a meaningful representation
of the corresponding country name. ICANN also requested
for a documentation of community support for the string
and assess whether the string requested raises any
significant security and stability issues in the domain name
system or raise any confusion issues with any existing top-
level domain names or other requested top-level domain
names. The IDNs are domain names that include characters
other than the currently available set of the Latin characters.
Under ICANN’s IDN Process new internet extensions that
represent country names can be requested in Chinese,
Russian, Arabic and several other languages.
The use of the Arabic language in the Web addresses
would increase the number of users and service access for
new segments of society. Although Arabic content is also
an essential step for getting full benefits, the new approval
will enable the users to access the Arabic content through
Arabic addresses and domain names, without any
language barrier starting from opening the PC to access
any Information on the Internet.
This move will also allow the government institutions that
provide e-government services, and companies wishing to
provide e-commerce services and other services provided
through the Internet, to communicate in Arabic language
and make their websites accessible to everyone.
8.2 Numbering Plan
8.2.1 Numbering Management System
TRA had decided to develop a new Numbering
Management System for Oman. The system will facilitate
towards efficient, transparent and timely handling of
numbering applications. TRA has invited proposals for the
implementation of the system.
The system will allow TRA to record, track, and efficiently
manage online applications for numbering resources.
Monitoring and assigning number blocks using a centralised
database will save time and minimise potential human
errors. It also will allow TRA to produce automatic reports
for further analysis and improve transparency and efficiency.
Numbering resource forecasts, usage patterns and
resource utilisation will facilitate maximisation of limited
numbering resources.
8.3 IPv6
8.3.1 IPv6 awareness campaign
TRA also have made a campaign to promote the website
via newspapers and printed leaflets. The leaflets contain
information about the importance of the website and other
information related to TRA role in the transition to IPv6.
TRA also requested the operators to connect their IPv6 test
labs to each other and to connect their labs with other
regional IPv6 lab to enhance the experience (billing, network
management system, security etc) with this new technology.
Broadband communication allows better data transfer rates
and facilitates new services such as E-health, E-government
and E-education. Broadband increases the demand for IP
address exponentially, much more that what the current
IPv4 could offer. Therefore, IPv6 was a solution for such a
limitation also. IPv6 also provides the required tool to offer
e-services (e-health, e-government, e-education …etc)
through tools like Auto configuration, IPSec, QoS, Multicast.
‫.عمان‬
‫.عمان‬

35
8.3.2 Launch of IPv6 website
TRA has taken the depletion of IPv4 address issue seriously
and decided to contact operators on this regard.
Furthermore, on 18/08/2010 TRA launched an IPv6 website
that serves as a hub from which knowledge on IPv6 can be
gathered and disseminated. The website contains latest
news nationally and internationally an effort to prepare and
migrate to Ipv6 plus documents related to the importance of
transiting to IPv6.
8.4 Type Approval of Telecom Equipment
8.4.1 Issuance of equipment labelling guidelines
In accordance to Chapter 6 of the Executive Regulations,
TRA in June 2010, issued the Labelling Guidelines for the
approved telecom equipment.
By enforcing the TRA Labelling to be placed on the
approved telecom equipment, TRA aims to eliminate the
phenomena of flooding the market with unapproved types
of telecom equipment and to improve the consumer
protection. A step forward in this way was taken by the
Authority, while introducing the labelling scheme, which will
help the consumers to make informed buying decision as it
will be easy to identify approved equipment and not
approved ones. Another objective behind the labelling is to
facilitate work of TRA inspectors in easily identifying not
approved equipment in the market if they do not having the
label. It is important to mention that the Omani label is not a
tool to release telecom equipment held with Customs.
However, it is a tool to check the equipment in the local
market.
Furthermore, the label is an indication that the equipment is
approved in Oman regardless of the fact that the equipment
manufacturer is exporting it to the Sultanate or to any other
country.
8.4.2 Number of type approved equipment
during 2010
TRA has continued to approve telecommunications
equipment after checking the compliance of these
equipment to the international standards on Safety,
Electromagnetic compatibility, and Radio Frequency (RF).
Due to the demand from the market, and the new
technological advancements, the highest number of
approved equipment in 2010, were from the category of
Radio telecom equipment.
The table below shows the number of equipment approved
by TRA from each category.
Number of Approved Equipment 2010
Mobile Phones 98
Radio 298
Terminal 141
Total 537
TRA has also continued to register and renew the
registration of dealers who want to deal with telecom
equipment. These dealers were asked to comply with
relevant conditions including for selling equipment.
There was total number of 470 newly registered/renewed
dealers of telecom equipment during year 2010.
8.4.3 Testing of CRM for all type approval transactions
in offline mode
Starting from October 2010, TRA has started using the
e-services system (CRM) in its offline mode to ensure that
the system is stable and to fix any issue in processing
transactions before going fully online. The new online
system forms a critical transition stage for the TRA, as it
changes the processes of transactions from paper-based
applications/processes to end-to-end electronic online
services. The TRA was able to offer 21 e-services related to
type approval. These services are planned to go fully online
by beginning of 2011. Once the system goes online, dealers
of telecom equipment will be able to create an account
online through the TRA website, and carry out various
e-services of type approval depending on the registered
account. This will result in saving time and effort for the TRA
employees as they will be able to electronically manage the

36
transactions and processes, and also result in saving time
and effort of the telecom equipment dealers as they will be
able to apply online from anywhere at any time.
8.5 Private Networks not connected to
Public Networks
TRA vide decision No. 68/2010 allowed installation and
operation of private networks for own use not connected to
public networks. TRA finalised various set of rules,
conditions, application forms, application fees and
authorisation fees. If applications meet all required
parameters, authorisation would follow.
8.6 Cybercafé Study
Since cybercafés play an important role in the telecom
sector in Oman, TRA has completed an internal study on
cybercafé business covering all regulatory perspectives.
The Study carried out had examined the viability of
cybercafés business also as some failure signals were
appearing from time-to-time in the market. Cybercafés
owners were invited to participate in a survey designed for
this purpose. Data collected were analysed from different
Technical, QoS and financial perceptions as many players
had doubt on the viability of the business itself in the recent
years. The study identified many deficiencies in the existing
cybercafé business and come up with proper
recommendations and suggestion for improvements in the
services offered. The study along with the
recommendations, have been forwarded to the concerned
Licensed Providers (Omantel Nawras) for further follow
up.
8.7 Inspection of Spectrum Users
In order to check on the compliance of technical
specifications of radio equipment into operation with the
issued radio licenses, TRA conducted 114 inspection visits
for 111 spectrum users in different areas of the sultanate.
This includes the inspection of 55 spectrum users in land
services, inspection of 59 ships/boats and inspection of 21
dealer of radio equipment. As part of the process of issuing
new radio licenses, 22 survey processes were carried out
as well.
In total, about 157 inspection visit was carried out for
spectrum user and dealers of radio equipment during the
year 2010. The inspection process resulted in finding 24
spectrum users either operating radio equipment illegally
without license or not complying with the issued radio
license.
The table below presents statistics of performed tasks.
SQ Tasks
Number of inspection/
survey visits
1 Spectrum user (land service) 55
2 Ships/boats 59
3 Dealers of radio equipment 21
4 Survey 22
Total 157
8.8 Radio Licensing
The number of new frequency assignments during 2010
was 6,464. The total number of new radio licenses issued
was 3,674 while the number of those which were renewed
is 18,407 adding up to the total number of 22,081 radio
licenses. On the other hand the total number of licenses
cancelled during 2009 was 1,222 excluding the ones are
temporary licensed.
2009 2010
No. of New Radio Licenses 2,914 3,674
No. of Renewed Radio Licenses 17,121 18,407
No. of Cancelled Radio Licenses 1,062 1,222
No. of New Frequencies Assigned 5,485 6,464

37
Working for
Consumers
09

38
Section 09:
Working for Consumers
Consumer complaints
The Telecommunications Regulatory Act
mandates TRA to investigate into the
complaints submitted by the beneficiaries,
licensees or any other person and to take the
measures necessary to resolve and settle the
dispute. In accordance with the requirements
of the Act, TRA issued procedures to handle
the complaints submitted by beneficiaries
against operators or service providers.
During 2010 TRA received a total of 46 valid complaints
from consumers on issues where no settlement was
reached with their service providers compared to 20
complaints in 2009, registering an increase of 130% over
the previous year.
Percentage of Complaint by Operator
Most of the complaints (around 74%) were in relation to
Mobile in respect of billing and withdrawal of numbers. Six
complaints were in relation to fixed lines and another six to
Internet representing 26% of the total complaints.
Service Mobile Fixed
Line
Internet Total Percentage
Omantel 19 6 4 29 63%
Nawras 15 0 2 17 37%
Total 34 6 6 46 100%
Percentage 74% 13% 13% 100
TRA arranged amicable settlements between beneficiaries
and service providers and issued determinations on
unresolved disputes.
Online Consumer Relations Management System
In order to boost the TRA’s role in safeguarding the
beneficiaries’ interest, TRA introduced a new channel to
keep in contact with the consumers through Complaint
Management System over the Internet where any consumer
can contact TRA from anywhere to submit any comments
or suggestions and follow up the processing of his
complaint over the Internet.
Awareness Campaigns and Informative supplements
TRA continued its efforts in raising the beneficiaries’
awareness in various aspects of the telecom sector. During
2010 TRA organised a number of awareness programs
including the broadcasting campaign on Al Wisal Radio by
broadcasting three messages within ten days (As part of
TRA participation in COMEX 2010).
The broadcasting campaign focused on three areas:
1) hazards of fraudulent SMS,
2) Wi-Fi security, and
3) Obtaining mobile numbers to be used by others and the
resulting legal liability.
The same awareness messages were broadcasted for a
period of one month during TRA participation in Salalah
Khareef Festival 2010. The broadcasting featured Al Shabab
program on Sultanate of Oman Radio besides AL Wisal
Radio.
As part of its participation in COMEX 2010, TRA launched
an educational and informative campaign to counter spam
messages. The objective of the campaign was to prepare
the public and the private and public sectors for the draft
measures to counter spam messages intended to be
issued by TRA. Cooperation is also encouraged between
all stakeholders and those affected by these messages as a
major factor in countering them and lessening their
associated risks.
■ 63% Omantel
■ 37% Nawras

39
Media supplements
TRA issued a supplement with Oman Newspaper on May
17, 2010 to coincide with the celebration of the World
Telecommunications and Information Society Day. The
supplement included several issues covering the role of
telecommunications in making life better.
TRA also periodically issues reports and press releases that
highlight the achievements made in the telecom sector
which is of interest to beneficiaries and dealers in telecom
services.
In respect of educating the personnel operating in the
media field, TRA delegated a group of journalists to embark
upon the awareness programs implemented by TRA in the
events of Salalah Festival 2010 and be familiar with the
services of TRA and the objectives it seeks to realise.
Educational Competition: Telecom. “Telecom Services
for better life”
TRA concluded its educational competition in 2010 under
the slogan: “Telecommunications for Better Life”. TRA
aimed through this competition at familiarising the school
and university students with the telecom sector and its
dynamic role in social and economic development. The
competition comprised of two parts: the school children
part titled “Telecommunications with Colours” which was
based on expressing the telecommunications role in
making our daily life better by a drawing; the second part
was directed towards college students in the form of
presenting an idea of a project that could contribute in
strengthening the role of telecommunications in developing
the social and economic life.

40
10
Public
Consultations/
Studies

41
Section 10:
Public Consultations/Studies
10.1 Competition Framework
A public consultation was held as part of the
Competition Framework project. The public
consultation was on the proposed framework
for market definitions and dominance and
anti-competitive behaviour. The public
consultation was held on 23 October 2010.
This Public Consultation is concerned with the rules that
shall apply to both ex-ante and ex-post regulation in
telecommunications service markets in Oman. The
Authority considers that it is important that the rules for both
types of regulatory control are considered at the same time.
10.2 Tariff Framework for Corporate Offers
A tariff framework was developed for corporate customers
that receive special corporate offers from the service
providers. To ensure that there are no anti-competitive and
discriminatory impacts from such offers, the TRA developed
a framework to be followed by the Licensees and service
providers.
The tariff framework when issued would ensure that
the Corporate offers are not offered to specific individuals to
ensure non-discrimination, therefore the offers will only be
applicable to Corporate customers through a special
customer agreement, where the offer will be signed in
the service providers billing system under the corporations
commercial registration and will only show the
corporate name.
10.3 WiFi Hot Spot Public Consultation
In November 2010, the TRA released another public
consultation paper on WiFi public hotspot policy. Several
responses have been received from operators and vendors
and currently being reviewed by the TRA. The aim of the
paper was to collect public and private sector feedback and
views towards framing a policy on public WiFi hotspots in
order to enhance internet connectivity and penetration in
the sultanate and examine the effect of such services on
the business models of the existing and potential operators
and service provides.
10.4 SMS/MMS Study
The Decision No. (68/2009) required the TRA to conduct a
study of the legal, economic and social aspects of value
added services (VAS) such as competitions and quizzes
being floated through SMS and MMS services. The TRA
undertook the study and researched relevant material
publicly available and reviewed different examples from
regulatory bodies around the world. A paper was prepared
which analysed the current practices being followed in
Oman and looked into the legal, economic and social
implications for the customers and other stakeholders.
It also assessed if the market conditions require any
regulatory instrument to ensure that interest of consumers
is protected.
The VAS is a modern and efficient way of delivering many
useful services. On the other hand, there are many services
like chatting, voting, and competitions where the TRA
needs to be more vigilant and allow services which offer
positive value for the society. It was also observed that
these services lacked the element of competition and the
consumers are not getting any true benefits of the
competition from the price aspect.
In order to do this, further steps will be taken to develop
guidelines or a framework to regulate the VAS and premium
service tariffs. However, the actual contents shall continue
to be reviewed and approved by the concerned authorities
in the Sultanate.

42
10.5 Draft decision for Non-Public Services
Class I Licensees build certain telecom infrastructure
elements and provide telecom services to corporate entities
such as banks and oil companies etc for their private/
internal use. Previously, the TRA used to receive tariff
proposals for the provision of such telecom services;
however, the TRA is considered relaxing this requirement by
issuing guidelines and framework.
The TRA drafted Guidelines for setting the tariffs and
issued for public consultation on the TRA website on
9 November 2010 to seek the feedback and views of
interested parties on the draft guidelines, the deadline
for receiving comments was 30 December 2010.
10.6 Access Deficit Contribution
A draft decision on Access Deficit Contribution was
published for consultation for the views of the stakeholders
in July 2010. The access deficit is defined as the shortfall
between the line rental and the revenue earned by the
Licensee from the subscription charges or regulated tariffs.
The consultation process has been completed and TRA is
in the process of issuing the Decision in this respect soon.

43
Local and
International
Events
11

44
Section 11:
Local and International Events
11.1 Local and Regional Events
TRA actively collaborates with regulators in
the GCC and broader Arab Region under the
umbrellas of the Gulf Cooperation Council
and the Arab League, respectively, in order
to prepare a coordinated and united Arab
position on various issues, including but not
limited to:
1. Spectrum Management
a. Coordination in spectrum management.
b. Frequency interference on border locations.
c. Transition from analogue to digital broadcasting.
2. Operations and Tariffs
a. Studies on the reduction in termination and retail
tariffs.
b. Interconnection tariffs.
c. Studies on the regulation of voice over internet-
protocol (VoIP).
3. The Internet and Domain Names
a. The use of domain names in Arabic.
b. The activation and management of top-level Arabic
domain names.
c. Collaboration and cooperation among Arab States on
the transition from IPv4 to IPv6.
11.2 Participation in Local and Regional Events
During year 2010, TRA participated in the following local
and regional events:
The International Conference of Radio-communication
on Health and Environmental Prospective
TRA has played an important role for consumer awareness
with respect to the health and environment issues which
are related to Radio-Frequency radiation from
telecommunication towers. This was achieved through
organising two-days international conference on Radio-
communication on health and environmental prospective
o n 3 1 s t J a n u a r y –
1 February 2010. This conference was aimed at providing a
forum for discussion on the possible health and
environmental effects of exposure to electromagnetic fields
(EMF) and the protection standards, particularly from
devices emitting fields in the radio frequency (RF) part of the
electromagnetic spectrum. Representatives of key
international organisations including the World Health
Organisation (WHO), International Telecommunication
Union (ITU), and the International Commission on Non-
Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), provided advice and
recommendations on these issues. There were
presentations and discussions on topics which included
health and environmental effects of exposure to RF fields
from telecommunications devices, standards that limit
exposure to workers and the public, and compliance and
safety measures.
Exhibitions
COMEX 2010 and Salalah Tourist Festival 2010
TRA took part in COMEX 2010 in realisation of its
endeavours to raise public awareness of telecom services
and highlight TRA role in the development of the telecom
sector in Oman. It was an active participation that focused
on spreading awareness messages on how to deal with
spam SMS and the necessary security procedures for the
use of Wi-Fi service, while methods of filing complaints were
also intimated to consumers. A competition posted on TRA
website contributed in furthering public interaction and in
increasing the number of website visitors.
TRA participation was characterised by media broadcasting
coverage throughout the exhibition duration and a number
of officials of the telecom sector were hosted in the
broadcasting studio that was set in TRA stall at COMEX.
Those officials shed light on the achievements of the sector
and highlighted aspirations and future plans.
Salalah Tourist Festival 2010
TRA participation in Salalah Festival reflected TRA keenness
to spread its word to the largest possible population in the
Sultanate by targeting the masses that are attracted by
Salalah Tourist Festival from the various areas and
governorates of the Sultanate and from the different strata
of the Omani society. In the Festival TRA focused on the
aspect of public awareness on all telecom services. Also, a
contest in collaboration with Rathath Al Khareef show on
Oman TV was organised where tens of thousands of

45
participants took part.
Sponsorships
TRA enhances its social role with the various government,
private and community institutions by sponsoring a variety
of educational programs, scientific conferences, exhibitions
and events that serve the community. In this context, TRA
sponsored the 12th Forum of the Arab Consumer Union
and the Scientific Conference (Special Issues on Consumer
Protection) and also sponsored the national event (Floating
Expressions) featuring the launch of a hot air balloon in the
Omani skies to salute H.M. the Sultan on the glorious 40th
National Day Anniversary of Oman.
GCC Broadband Coordination Meeting
The first GCC broadband coordination meeting was held in
GCC Telecom Bureau during the time period 10-11th
October 2010. The objective of this meeting was to initiate
the discussion on a possible agreement between GCC
regarding the overspill and interference issues in the border
area. It was agreed by the meeting that TRA will develop a
proposal for the agreement based on its original contribution
submitted to this meeting.
11.3 International and Regional Representations
TRA plays an active and dynamic role at both the
international and regional levels in telecommunications
development and continues to develop ties with its fellow
regulators, and builds on strengthening bilateral
relationships with regional authorities as well as other
related bodies.
The TRA is a sector member of the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) in all three sectors; radio
communication, telecommunication standardisation and
telecommunication development. The TRA is also a member
of the Arab Regulators Network of Telecommunication and
Information Technologies (ARNET) and in 2010 actively
contributed on issues of tariff benchmarking.
11.4 Participation in International Events
The TRA participated in various events in 2010 with the aim
to coordinate the Sultanate’s position with relevant regional
and international regulatory authorities and other
international organisations in the radio communication,
telecomm-unication standardisation and telecommunication
develop-ment sectors, as well as to benefit from
international exposure and experiences in directing the
development and articulation of local telecommunications
policies, consistent with Oman’s Telecommunication
Regulatory Act and the strategic plan of TRA.
TRA staff participated in 73 events in 2010. The frequency
of staff participation in such events is reflected in the
number of man days spent at these forums as well as in
their recurrent participation. The following table gives an
indication of the various international forums participated in
during 2010:
International Participations International Forum
No. of Events
No. of
Participants Man Days
ITU 14 41 218
GCC 14 28 105
Arab League 10 16 87
ARNET 4 4 8
Others 31 68 267
Total 73 N/A N/A
In 2010, the TRA extended its participation in various
international events, some of which are mentioned below:
GSM Association (GSMA) Mobile World Congress
The GSM Association (GSMA) Mobile World Congress is
the combination of the world’s largest exhibition for the
mobile industry and a congress featuring prominent chief
executives representing mobile operators, vendors and
content owners from across the world. The GSMA
represents the interests of the worldwide mobile
communications industry. Spanning 219 countries, the
GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators, as
well as more than 200 companies in the broader mobile
ecosystem.
TRA’s participation in the GSMA Mobile World Congress
consisted of a high-level delegation led by the TRA
Chairman, H.E. Mohammed bin Nasser Al-Khasibi and
included TRA Members Mrs. Naashiah bint Saud Al-
Kharusi and Mr. Mohsin bin Alawi Al-Hafeedh.
ITU’s World Telecommunications Development
Conference (WTDC-10)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s fifth

46
World Telecommunication Development Conference
(WTDC-10) took place in Hyderabad, India from 24th May -
4th June 2010. The objective of the WTDC-10 was to
identify priorities for the development of telecommunications
and information and communication technologies (ICTs),
taking into account contributions made by Member States
and Sector Members of the ITU, and to adopt the
Hyderabad Action Plan (HAP), thus setting the future of
activities of the ITU Telecommunication Development
Sector (ITU-D) over the next four-year period.
TRA’s participation in the World Telecommunications
Development Conference consisted of a high-level
delegation led by TRA Member, Mr. Mohsin bin Alawi Al-
Hafeedh.
Millennium Development Goals Electronic Centre
(MDG e-centre) Seminar
The regional seminar entitled “Millennium Development
Goals Electronic Centre (MDG e-centre)” organised by the
United Nations Global Alliance on ICT and Development
(UN-GAID) and hosted by the Secretariat General of the
Gulf Cooperation Council and under the patronage of the
GCC Secretary-General, took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
from14-15th June 2010.
The objective of the event was to introduce and promote an
internet portal and Matrix as a new and comprehensive
source of eSolutions with their wide-ranging capabilities
and applications with the aim to assist policy and decision
makers responsible for the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) to track and accelerate
achievement of the sustainable (MDGs).
Experts from the six GCC countries were introduced to the
UN-GAID Millennium Development Goals E-Centre
developed by UN-GAID under the mandate and honorary
chairmanship of the UN Secretary General Mr. Ban Ki-
moon and UN-GAID Chairman Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh. The
Chairman of UN-GAID proposed to establish an E-Centre
to achieve the Millennium Development Goals to be named;
UN-GAID E-Millennium Development Goals Centre (E-MDG
Centre). The proposal was adopted and supported by the
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who accepted the
honorary presidency of UN-GAID and E-MDG Centre.
TRA’s participation in the Millennium Development Goals
Electronic Centre (MDG e-centre) Seminar consisted of a
high-level delegation led by TRA Member, Mrs. Naashiah
bint Saud Al-Kharusi.
ITU’s Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-10)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s
eighteenth Plenipotentiary Conference (PP-10) took place
in Guadalajara, Mexico 4th-22nd October 2010. The
Plenipotentiary Conference is the key event at which ITU
Member States decide on the future role of the organisation,
thereby determining the organisation’s ability to influence
and affect the development of Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) worldwide. The Pleni-
potentiary Conference is the top policy-making body of the
ITU. Held every four years, the Conference sets the Union’s
general policies, adopts four-year strategic and financial
plans and elects the senior management team of the
organisation, the members of the ITU Council and the
members of the Radio Regulations Board.
TRA’s participation in the Plenipotentiary Conference
consisted of a high-level delegation led by TRA Member,
Mr. Mohsin bin Alawi Al-Hafeedh.
ITU’s Global ICT Industry Leaders Forum (GILF)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s 3rd
Global ICT Industry Leaders Forum (GILF-10) took place in
Dakar, Senegal on 9th November 2010.
The GILF is an annual event which provides a neutral
platform for ITU-D Sector Members to share their views
with policy makers and regulators on major issues facing
the ICT sector, with a particular emphasis on reducing
barriers to ICT investment in developing and least
developed countries. The GILF-10 focused on two main
thematic sessions, “Securing a Wireless Future” and,
“Creating a “Light Touch” Policy and Regulatory
Environment”.
TRA’s participation in the Global ICT Industry Leaders
Forum consisted of a high-level delegation led by TRA
Member, Mr. Mohsin bin Alawi Al-Hafeedh.
ITU’s Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR)
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)’s 10th
Global Symposium for Regulators (GSR-10) took place in
Dakar, Senegal from 10-12th November 2010. The GSR is
an annual event bringing together heads of national
regulatory authorities from both developed and developing
countries. The GSR-10 examined the challenges for

47
regulators to stimulate nationwide broadband deployment
through adaptive and targeted regulations and out-of-the-
box tools. GSR-10 also focused on the need to keep up
with the pace of convergence and integration of ubiquitous
networks, in particular through adapting institutional
structure and mandates, adopting cutting-edge best
practices and embracing new tools such as innovative
dispute resolution techniques.
TRA’s participation in the Global Symposium for Regulators
consisted of a high-level delegation led by TRA Member,
Mr. Mohsin bin Alawi Al-Hafeedh.
ITU’s World Telecommunication and Information
Society Day (WTISD)
TRA celebrated the World Telecommunication and
Information Society Day (WTISD) in conjunction with the
Information Technology Authority (ITA), the Ministry of
Transport and Communication (MOTC) and the Muscat
Municipality. Under the ITU’s 2010 WTISD theme “Better
city, better life with ICTs” the Sultanate’s accomplishments
in the ICT field were highlighted, particularly involving the
ICT-related ideas, products and activities of university and
school children. The event was held under the auspices of
His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdullah Al Harthi
Minister of Civil. His Excellency Mohammed bin Nasser Al
Khasibi, Chairman of the TRA, along with the TRA
members, ITA Chief Executive Officer, Ministry of Transport
and Communication’s Undersecretary of Telecom and a
number of government and telecom officials and
representatives of international organisations in the
Sultanate attended the ceremony.
11.5 Outgoing and Visiting Delegations
In the continuing spirit of regional cooperation and
collaboration delegations from TRA conducted visits to the
United Arab Emirates’ Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority, the Kingdom of Sweden’s Post Telecom
Agency, as well as the Arab Republic of Egypt’s National
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority in order to
exchange and benefit from experiences in the following
fields:
• national domain name registry,
• enterprise resource planning, and
• regulation of micro and macro cell installations for mobile
telecommunication.
The TRA also received an incoming delegation, via the
Central Bank of Oman, from the Arab Monetary Fund,
in cooperation with the World Bank, as well as a delegation
of Jordanian businessmen from the Jordanian ICT sector.
Bilateral Coordination Meetings
In order to avoid spill-over coverage and frequency
interference of GSM and 3G networks between the
Sultanate and its neighbouring countries along the common
border areas, several bilateral coordination meetings were
held with the UAE and Yemen.
a. Oman – UAE Bilateral Coordination Meetings
As a follow-up of previous bilateral meeting, 3 meetings
were held during the year 2010. The 9th bilateral meeting
was held in Muscat in February 2010 in order to discuss the
results and recommendations of border consultancy study
that was agreed between TRAs in both countries during the
8th bilateral meeting. Following the results of this meeting,
further meetings were held to follow-up the implementation
of agreed actions based on the study of the consultant
such as the allowed over spilling signal level of 3G networks
in border areas and border roaming. The 10th bilateral
meeting was held in Dubai in July 2010 and the11th bilateral
meeting was hosted by the GCC Telecom Bureau in
December 2010.
b. Oman – Yemen Bilateral Coordination Meetings
As a follow-up of the previous two meetings held in year
2009, the third bilateral meeting was held in Sana in Yemen
between TRA and the Ministry of Communication and
Information Technology in Yemen. During this meeting, the
usage of GSM and E-GSM channels were coordinated in
the border areas. Furthermore, technical limits to control the
overspill of 3G and Tetra networks in the border areas were
agreed between the countries.

48
Capacity
Building
for TRA
12

49
Section 12:
Capacity Building for TRA
12.1 Omanization
TRA continues to maintain a high percentage
of Omanization throughout the past years by
providing varies job opportunities for Omani
nationals:
Year Percentage of Omanization
2010 93
2009 93
2008 92
2007 92
2006 94
2005 92
12.2 Training
Training Type Number of Programs
International 80
Local 8
12.3 Career development
TRA encourages a continuous learning environment for its
employees to ensure that all employees are constantly
expanding their job capabilities whether it happens through
participations in various training programs or through
learning from others within the organisation
12.4 ISO certification
In view of its constant endeavours to upgrade its
performance and promote its processes in accordance
with the latest international standards and specifications,
the Spectrum Management Unit has successfully obtained
ISO certification 27001 in information security management
having met all the prerequisites and after passing the
required security tests by the ISO approved auditors to
become the1st government body in Oman to have obtained
this certification.
12.5 ERP
One of the many achievements accomplished by TRA was
the development and implementation of an Enterprise
Resource Planning (ERP) System to enable the Authority to
automate and integrate important functions of TRA into one
system which caters needs of the management thereby
resulting efficient utilisation of available resources. The ERP
e-project of TRA will be used to manage all activities
needed for the internal resources electronically, including
financial resource and human resources. The purpose is to
facilitate the flow of information between all functions within
the TRA. This project uses the latest Microsoft software
solution technologies.
The ERP has been integrated with:
• Customer Relationship Management system.
• Correspondence Management System (CMS).
• SMS System.
• ITA E-Payment Gateway.
• MS Exchange Server.
12.6 Customer Relationship Management system (CRM)
TRA has recently implemented an e-services platform
(Customer Relationship Management (CRM)) that is aimed
at automating and streamlining its business operations. The
new service offering that is blinded with TRA’s public
internet presence facilitates provisioning of eServices to
TRA’s customers through a seamless manner.
Back ended with an ERP system and a CRM module to
fulfil service requests, the e-services platform provides TRA
with an extensible solution to provide, publish and offer its
services. As a result, TRA was able to automate customer
facing services to provide end-to-end online services.
Furthermore, the platform provides integration with the
Government e-payment gateway and an SMS gateway to
provide full range of interactivity and automation. In addition,
back-office operations are now tightly integrated with the
e-services platform to ensure that services are streamlined
and delivered transparently.

50
The e-service system (CRM) is designed to enhance the
customers’ satisfaction through the following:
• Improving the efficiency by saving the time and effort of
the users to complete a transaction (apply online from
anywhere at any time).
• Provide end-to-end process online.
• Change from paper-based transaction to a fully
automated paperless process-based operation which
leads to less time consume in the requested service.
• Considerable time is saved by the user in follow-up and
checking the status of inquiries.
• To ensure avoidance of manual calculation and data
entry errors for fees and penalties calculation.
• Multiple payment channels, electronic payment cards
and online payment, to ensure user convenience.
There are 26 e-services which are provided by the CRM
system. The e-services platform helps in improving
customer satisfaction by the following means:
• Provides 24/7 access to TRA services which makes it
easier to apply for service at any point of time.
• Automates the business process which prevents issues
associated with traditional channels service delivery.
• Enables service consumers to get status updates on
different steps during the transaction life cycle which
eliminates frustration.
• Measures TRA’s performance and helps in
understanding business process bottlenecks which
helps in re-engineering the processes to provide a better
response.
The system is integrated with the back-office system which
consists of an ERP, customer data and financial modules. In
addition, it is integrated with the following:
• SMS Correspondence.
• ITA E-payment gateway.
• Messaging system/gateway.
12.7 Social Events
To help maintain a friendly work environment and to further
strengthen TRA employees’ relationships with one another
beyond their official relationship, TRA organised its second
open day at Al Nahda Resort and Spa. The day was filled
with a number of activities which catered for the employees
and their family members.
On the occasion of the National Day’s 40th celebration,
TRA organised an event which included an award
distribution for all employees who completed five years and
above in the organisation.
12.8 Advanced automated spectrum
management system
In view of the ongoing quest of the Telecommunications
Regulatory Authority (TRA) to upgrade its performance and
promote its processes in accordance with the international
standards and specifications, TRA has signed a contract
on19th October 2010 to implement the project of Advanced
Automated Spectrum Management System (ASMS) with
OHI Telecommunications Company, a local agent for LS
Telecom, Germany, the world’s largest company in
developing such software. This project will gives utmost
care to electronic provision of services in the future. Also,
this new system of spectrum management will meet the
expectations of the spectrum users in the Sultanate with
respect to the transparent manner of radio licensing to
obtain a high quality and fast service in light of the high
complexity associated with licensing processes and the
allocation of spectrum due to the emergence of new
technologies, services and methods of co-ordination locally,
regionally and internationally. The project will be
implemented in two phases; the first phase will be
completed in 2011 to implement the Advanced Automated
Spectrum Management System (ASMS) without
connecting it to the Internet. The second phase will be
completed in 2012 and during this stage the system will be
connected to the Internet. By the end of this stage,
spectrum users will be able to complete most of their
transactions electronically from their own places and
without the need to visit the TRA’s office.

51
2010
Financial
Statement
13

52
Independent auditor’s report to the
members of Telecommunications Regulatory
Authority.
Report on the financial statements
We have audited the accompanying financial statements of
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (the “Authority”),
which comprise of the statement of financial position as of
31 December 2010 and the statement of comprehensive
income, statement of changes in equity and statement cash
flows for the year then ended, and a summary of significant
accounting policies and other explanatory notes, as set out
on pages 53 to 76.
Management’s responsibility for the financial statements
Management is responsible for the preparation and fair
presentation of these financial statements in accordance
with International Financial Reporting Standards, and for
such internal control as management determines is
necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements
that are free from material misstatement, whether due to
fraud or error.
Auditor’s responsibility
Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial
statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in
accordance with International Standards on Auditing. Those
standards require that we comply with ethical requirements
and plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable
assurance whether the financial statements are free from
material misstatement.
An audit involves performing procedures to obtain audit
evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial
statements. The procedures selected depend on the
auditor’s judgement, including the assessment of the risks
of material misstatement of the financial statements,
whether due to fraud or error. In making those risk
assessments, the auditor considers internal control relevant
to the Authority’s preparation and fair presentation of the
financial statements in order to design audit procedures
that are appropriate for the circumstances, but not for the
purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of
the Authority’s internal control. An audit also includes
evaluating the appropriateness of accounting policies used
and the reasonableness of accounting estimates made by
management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation
of the financial statements.
We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is
sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our audit
opinion.
Opinion
In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all
material respects, the financial position of Telecommun-
ications Regulatory Authority as of 31 December 2010, and
of its financial performance and its cash flows for the year
then ended in accordance with International Financial
Reporting Standards.
Deloitte Touche (M.E.) Co. LLC
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman
29 March 2011
Section 13:
2010 Financial Statement

53
Statement of financial position as at 31 December 2010
Notes 2010 2009
RO RO
ASSETS

Non-current asset
Property and equipment 6 1,121,523 1,200,362

Current assets
Telecom frequency fees receivable 7 1,072,584 405,913
Advances and other receivables 8 168,938 240,760
Fixed deposits 9 17,500,000 14,800,000
Cash and cash equivalents 10 5,135,809 7,438,834

Total current assets 23,877,331 22,885,507

Total assets 24,998,854 24,085,869

EQUITY AND LIABILITIES

Equity
Accumulated surplus 13,333,703 12,363,739

Non-current liabilities
Deferred government contributions 12 2,318,449 2,681,563
End of service benefits 13 593,515 463,931

Total non-current liabilities 2,911,964 3,145,494

Current liability
Trade and other payables 14 8,753,187 8,576,636

Total liabilities 11,665,151 11,722,130

Total equity and liabilities 24,998,854 24,085,869
The accompanying notes form an integral part of these financial statements.

54
Statement of comprehensive income for the year ended 31 December 2010

Notes 2010 2009
RO RO
Income
Radio spectrum income 15 9,638,976 12,241,947
Annual telecom licenses 16 2,192,004 3,187,584
Income from issuing numbers 710,338 669,076
Telecom equipment type approval income 17 150,769 124,522
Other telecom license fees 85,750 13,500

12,777,837 16,236,629

Operating expenses
Salaries and related costs 18 (3,160,840) (2,690,891)
General and administrative expenses 19 (927,411) (741,721)
Consultancy fees (261,703) (461,960)
Monitoring station costs 20 (450,000) (400,000)
Full-time Members’ remuneration 25 (120,000) (120,000)
Depreciation of property and equipment 6 (385,190) (441,891)
Donations to charitable institutions 21 (186,000) –
Provision for impairment of receivables
– net release/(charge) 7 2,527,399 (2,027,844)

(2,963,745) (6,884,307)

Operating income 9,814,092 9,352,322
Government contributions 12 385,829 433,077
Interest income 21 396,087 871,445
Other income 34,088 107,494

Surplus for the year 10,630,096 10,764,338

55
Statement of changes in equity for the year ended 31 December 2010
Accumulated surplus
RO
Balance at1 January 2009 26,096,745
Surplus transferred to Ministry of Finance (MoF) (Note11) (24,497,344)
Surplus for the year 10,764,338

Balance at1 January 2010 12,363,739
Surplus transferred to Ministry of Finance (MoF) (Note11) (9,115,942)
Dividend payment (Note11) (544,190)
Surplus for the year 10,630,096

Balance at 31 December 2010 13,333,703

56
Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 December 2010
2010 2009
RO RO
Operating activities
Surplus for the year 10,630,096 10,764,338
Adjustments for:
Depreciation 385,190 441,891
Provision for impairment of receivables 226,467 2,049,999
Release of provision for impairment of receivables (2,753,866) (22,155)
Net transfer to end of service benefits 129,584 124,183
Government contributions (385,829) (433,077)
Interest income (396,087) (871,445)
Gain on disposal of property and equipment (267) –

Operating profit before changes in working capital: 7,835,288 12,053,734

Working capital changes:
Telecom frequency fees receivable (666,671) (1,635,408)
Advances and other receivables 2,510,821 35,572
Trade and other payables 176,551 556,407

Cash generated from operations 9,855,989 11,010,305
Interest received 484,487 926,376

Net cash from operating activities 10,340,476 11,936,681

Investing activities
Fixed deposits (2,700,000) 17,200,000
Purchase of property and equipment (306,439) (963,222)
Proceeds from disposal of property and equipment 355 –

Net cash (used in)/from investing activities (3,006,084) 16,236,778

Financing activities
Surplus transferred to MoF (9,115,942) (24,497,344)
Dividends paid (544,190) –
Government contributions received 22,715 –

Net cash used in financing activities (9,637,417) (24,497,344)

Net change in cash and cash equivalents (2,303,025) 3,676,115
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 7,438,834 3,762,719

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year (Note10) 5,135,809 7,438,834

57
Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2010
1. Legal status and principal activities
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (“the Authority”) was established on 1 May 2002 in the Sultanate of
Oman in accordance with Royal Decree 30/2002 as a telecom and frequency regulatory authority. The Authority
commenced operations effective from 1 January 2003 and is responsible for regulating Telecommunications Services
in the Sultanate of Oman. The Authority has taken over certain functions previously carried out by the Ministry
of Transportation and Communications and Oman Telecommunications Company SAOG (Omantel). The principal
a activities of the Authority comprise:
– Regulating the telecommunications sector;
– Issuance of radio licenses;
– Assignment and allocation of frequency spectra;
– Issuance of licenses to telecom operators and service providers;
– Certification and type approval of telecommunication equipment;
– Registration of telecommunications dealers;
– Issuing permits for importing telecommunications equipment.
These financial statements are presented in Rials Omani (RO) since that is the currency of the country in which the majority
of the Authority’s transactions are denominated.
2. Adoption of new and revised International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS)
For the year ended 31 December 2010, the Authority has adopted all the new and revised standards and interpretations
issued by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) and the International Financial Reporting Interpretations
Committee (IFRIC) of the IASB that are relevant to its operations and effective for the year beginning on1 January 2010.
2.1 Standards and Interpretations adopted with no effect on the financial statements
The following new and revised Standards and Interpretations have also been adopted in these financial statements.
Their adoption has not had any significant impact on the amounts reported in these financial statements but may affect the
accounting for future transactions or arrangements.
• Amendments to IFRS 2 Share-based Payment – Group
Cash-settled Share-based Payment Transactions
• Amendments to IFRS 5 Non-current Assets Held
for Sale and Discontinued Operations (as part of
Improvements to IFRSs issued in 2008)
The amendments clarify the scope of IFRS 2, as well as the
accounting for group cash-settled share-based payment
transactions in the separate (or individual) financial state-
ments of an entity receiving the goods or services when an-
other group entity or shareholder has the obligation to settle
the award.
The amendments clarify that all the assets and liabilities of
a subsidiary should be classified as held for sale when the
Authority is committed to a sale plan involving loss of control
of that subsidiary, regardless of whether the Authority will re-
tain a non-controlling interest in the subsidiary after the sale.

58
• Amendments to IAS 39 Financial Instruments:
Recognition and Measurement – Eligible Hedged Items
• IFRIC17 Distributions of Non-cash Assets to Owners
• IFRIC18 Transfers of Assets from Customers
The amendments provide clarification on two aspects
of hedge accounting: identifying inflation as a hedged
risk or portion, and hedging with options.
The Interpretation provides guidance on the appropriate ac-
counting treatment when an entity distributes assets other
than cash as dividends to its shareholders.
The Interpretation addresses the accounting by recipients
for transfers of property, plant and equipment from ‘custom-
ers’ and concludes that when the item of property, plant and
equipment transferred meets the definition of an asset from
the perspective of the recipient, the recipient should recog-
nise the asset at its fair value on the date of the transfer, with
the credit being recognised as revenue
in accordance with IAS18 Revenue.
2.2 Standards and Interpretations in issue not yet effective
At the date of authorisation of these financial statements, the following new and revised Standards and Interpretations
were in issue but not yet effective:
New Standards and amendments to Standards: Effective for annual periods
beginning on or after
• IAS 32: Financial Instruments: Presentation,
amendments relating to classification of rights issues February 2010

• IFRS 3: Business Combinations,
amendments resulting from May 2010 annual Improvements to IFRSs July 2010

• IAS 27: Consolidated and Separate Financial Statements,
amendments resulting from May 2010 Annual Improvements to IFRSs July 2010

• IFRS 7: Financial Instruments: Disclosures,
amendments resulting from May 2010 Annual Improvements to IFRSs January 2011

• IAS1: Presentation of Financial Statements,

• IAS 24: Related Party Disclosures, revised definition of related parties January 2011

• IAS 34: Interim Financial Reporting,

• IFRS 7: Financial Instruments: Disclosures,
amendments enhancing disclosures about transfers of financial assets July 2011

59
• IAS12: Income Taxes,
limited scope amendment (recovery of underlying assets) January 2012

• IFRS 9: Financial Instruments: Classification and Measurement
(intended as complete replacement for IAS 39 and IFRS 7) January 2013
New Interpretations and amendments to Interpretations: Effective for annual periods
beginning on or after

• IFRIC19: Extinguishing Financial Liabilities with Equity Instruments July 2010

• IFRIC13 Customer Loyalty Programmes,
amendments resulting from May 2010 annual Improvements to IFRSs January 2011

• IFRIC14: IAS19: The Limit on a Defined Benefit Asset, Minimum Funding
Requirements and their Interaction,
November 2009 Amendments with respect to voluntary prepaid contributions January 2011
Management anticipates that the adoption of these Standards and Interpretations in future periods will have no material
impact on the financial statements of the Authority in the period of initial application.
3. Significant accounting policies
Basis of preparation
(a) The financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis except as disclosed in the accounting policies
below and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
(b) The preparation of financial statements in conformity with IFRS requires the use of certain critical accounting estimates.
It also requires the Management to exercise its judgement in the process of applying the Authority’s accounting
policies. Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty are disclosed in Note 4.
A summary of significant accounting policies, which have been consistently applied by the Authority and are consistent
with those used in the previous year, is set out below:
(a) Property and equipment
(i) Recognition and measurement
Items of property and equipment are measured at cost less accumulated depreciation and impairment losses.
Costs include expenditures that are directly attributable to the acquisition of the asset. The cost includes any other
costs that are directly attributable to bringing the asset to a working condition for its intended use, and the costs of
dismantling and removing the items and restoring the site on which they are located.
When parts of an item of property and equipment have different useful lives, they are accounted for as separate items
(major components) of plant and equipment.

60
(ii) Subsequent costs
The cost of replacing part of an item of property and equipment is recognised in the carrying amount of that asset
if it is probable that future economic benefits embodied within the part will flow to the Authority and its cost can be
measured reliably. The costs of the day-to-day servicing of property and equipment are recognised in profit or loss
as incurred.
(iii) Depreciation
Depreciation is recognised in profit or loss on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of each part
of the property and equipment. The estimated useful lives for the current and comparative periods are as follows:
Years
Monitoring station 3 to 7
Motor vehicles 4
Office equipment 3
Furniture and fittings 4
Computer equipment 3
Capital work-in-progress is not depreciated.
Management annually reassess the useful lives and residual values of property and equipment.

(b) Telecom frequency fees receivable
Receivables in respect of telecom frequency fees are stated at amortised cost less impairment losses.
(c) Cash and cash equivalents
For the purpose of the statement of cash flows, cash and cash equivalents consist of cash on hand and bank
balances maturing within three months from the date of placement.
(d) Trade and other payables
Trade and other payables are stated at amortised cost.
(e) End of service benefits and leave entitlements
End of service benefits are accrued in accordance with the terms of employment of the Authority’s employees at
the end of the reporting period, having regard to the requirements of the Oman Labour Law. Employee entitlements
to annual leave and leave passage are recognised when they accrue to employees and an accrual is made for
the estimated liability arising as a result of services rendered by employees up to the end of the reporting period.
These accruals are included in current liabilities, while that relating to end of service benefits is disclosed as a
non-current liability.
Contributions to defined contribution retirement plan for Omani employees, in accordance with Oman Social Insurance
Scheme, are recognised as an expense in profit or loss as incurred.

61
(f) Income recognition
Equipment license fees, frequency registration fees and other fees are recognised, on accrual basis, in the statement
of comprehensive income when the right to receive them is established. No revenue is recognised if there are
significant uncertainties regarding recovery of the fees due, associated costs or the possible refund of the amount.
License issuance fees from Telecom Operators are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which the
license is issued.
Penalties for late payment of license fees are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which the advice for payment
is issued, and are calculated from the date on which the license fee is due.
Contributions from Telecom Operators are recognised in profit or loss in the period in which the related expenditure
is incurred.
(g) Government contributions

Government contributions are recognised when there is reasonable assurance that the Authority will comply with the
relevant conditions and the contributions will be received. They are recognised as income on a systematic basis to
match them with the related costs that they are intended to compensate.
Contributions made to reimburse costs previously incurred or to provide immediate assistance are recognised in profit
or loss in the year they become receivable.
Contributions that relate to the acquisition of an asset are recognised in profit or loss over the useful economic live
of the asset involved. These contributions are recognised as deferred income that is amortised as the related asset
is depreciated or amortised.
(h) Finance income/charges
Finance income comprises interest income on bank deposits. Finance charges comprise bank interest and bank
charges. Interest income and charges are recognised in profit or loss on the accrual basis.
(i) Provisions
A provision is recognised in the statement of financial position when the Authority has a legal or constructive
obligation as a result of a past event, and it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required to
settle the obligation.
(j) Taxation
In accordance with Article19 of Royal Decree 30/2002, the Authority’s assets and income are exempt from taxes
in the Sultanate of Oman.

62
(k) Foreign currencies
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies are translated into Rials Omani and recorded using rates of exchange
prevailing at the date of the transaction. Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated
into Rials Omani at market rates of exchange prevailing on the end of the reporting period. Foreign exchange
differences arising on translations are recognised in profit or loss.
(l) Impairment
The carrying amounts of the Authority’s assets are reviewed at each end of the reporting period to determine whether
there is any indication of impairment. If any such indication exists, the asset’s recoverable amount is estimated.
An impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss whenever the carrying amount of an asset exceeds its recoverable
amount.
The recoverable amount of assets is the greater of their net selling price and value in use. In assessing value in
use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects
current market assessment of the time value of money and the risk specific to the asset. For an asset that does not
generate largely independent cash flows, the recoverable amount is determined for the cash-generating unit to which
the asset belongs.
Impairment losses in respect of assets are reversed if there has been a change in the estimates used to determine
the recoverable amount. An impairment loss is reversed only to the extent that the asset’s carrying amount does
not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined net of depreciation, if no impairment loss had
been recognised.

63
4. Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty
The preparation of the financial statements requires Management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the
reported amount of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the resultant provisions and changes
in fair value. Such estimates are necessarily based on assumptions about several factors involving varying, and possibly
significant, degrees of judgement and uncertainty and actual results may differ from Management’s estimates resulting in
future changes in estimated liabilities and assets.
Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including
expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.
Key sources of estimation uncertainty
a. Impairment of receivables
An estimate of the collectible amount of trade accounts receivable is made when collection of the full amount is no longer
probable. For individually significant amounts, this estimation is performed on an individual basis. Amounts which are not
individually significant, but which are past due, are assessed collectively and a provision applied according to the length
of time past due, based on historical recovery rates.
At the end of the reporting period, telecom frequency fees receivable amounted to RO 1.818 million (2009: RO 3.679
million), and the provision for impairment of receivables is RO 0.746 million (2009: RO 3.273 million). Any difference
between the amounts actually collected in future periods and the amounts expected to be collected will be recognised
in the profit or loss.
b. Useful lives of property and equipment
Depreciation is charged so as to allocate the cost of assets over their estimated useful lives. The calculation of useful lives
is based on Management’s assessment of various factors such as the operating cycles, the maintenance programs, and
normal wear and tear using its best estimates.
c. Estimated annual license fee
The telecom operators reimburse all the cost incurred related to telecommunications sector by the Authority. The
payment is made on an annual basis, initially based on estimate as per budget prepared by the Authority. When actual
cost becomes determinable, the overage or shortage on the amount billed to operators shall be refunded or collected,
respectively, from the operators, taking into account the Article18 of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act.

64
5. Financial risk management
Financial instruments carried on the statement of financial position comprise cash and cash equivalents, bank deposits,
trade and other receivables and trade and other payables.
Financial assets are assessed for indicators of impairment at each end of the reporting period. Financial assets are
impaired where there is objective evidence that as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition
of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been impacted.
The classification of financial assets depends on the purpose for which the financial assets were acquired. Management
determines the classification of its financial assets at initial recognition.
Overview
The Authority has exposure to the following risks from its use of financial instruments:
• Credit risk
• Liquidity risk
• Market risk
The Authority’s overall risk management programme focuses on the unpredictability of financial markets and seeks
to minimise potential adverse effects on the Authority’s financial performance.
(i) Credit risk
Credit risk is the risk of financial loss to the Authority if a customer or counterparty to a financial instrument fails
to meet its contractual obligations and arises principally from the Authority’s receivables from customers.
Telecom frequency fees receivable and other receivables
The Authority’s exposure to credit risk is influenced mainly by the individual characteristics of each customer.
The Authority has established credit policies and procedures that are considered appropriate and commensurate with the
nature and size of receivables.
In monitoring customer credit risk, customers are segmented according to their credit characteristics in the following
categories:
• Private individual customers
• Corporate customers
• Government customers
• Other customers
The potential risk in respect of amounts receivable is limited to their carrying values as management regularly reviews
these balances whose recoverability is in doubt.
The Authority establishes a provision for impairment that represents its estimate of potential losses in respect of telecom
frequency fees receivable and other receivables.

65
(ii) Liquidity risk
Liquidity risk is the risk that the Authority will not be able to meet its financial obligations as they fall due. The Authority’s
approach to managing liquidity is to ensure that it will have sufficient liquidity to meet its liabilities when due.
Typically the Authority ensures that it has sufficient cash on demand to meet expected operational expenses including
the servicing of financial obligations.
The Government guarantees payment of the Authority’s obligations on due dates. Further, the Authority ensures that
sufficient cash balance is maintained to cover its outstanding liabilities.
(iii) Market risk
Market risk is the risk that changes in market prices, such as foreign exchange rates, interest rates affect the Authority’s
income or the value of its holdings of financial instruments. The objective of market risk management is to manage and
control market risk exposures within acceptable parameters, while optimising the return.

66
Foreign currency risk
The Authority’s functional and presentation currency is Rial Omani and the Authority’s performance is substantially
independent of changes in foreign currency rates. There are no significant financial instruments denominated in foreign
currency and consequently, foreign currency risk is not significant.
Interest rate risk
The Authority has bank deposits, which are interest bearing and exposed to changes in market interest rates.
Fair value estimation
In the opinion of the management, carrying value of the financial instruments as stated in the statement of financial
position approximates their fair value.

67
6. Property and equipment

Monitoring station Motor vehicles
RO RO

Cost
1 January 2009 1,486,835 40,550
Additions 784,756 –
Disposals – –
1 January 2010 2,271,591 40,550
Additions – 16,306
Disposals – –
31 December 2010 2,271,591 56,856
Depreciation
1 January 2009 1,079,191 18,497
Charge for the year 320,485 7,663
Disposals – –
1 January 2010 1,399,676 26,160
Charge for the year 227,612 8,888
Disposals – –
31 December 2010 1,627,288 35,048
Net book value
31 December 2010 644,303 21,808
31 December 2009 871,915 14,390

68
Office equipment, Capital
furniture and fittings Computer equipment work-in-progress Total
RO RO RO RO
275,379 261,227 22,750 2,086,741
71,735 49,531 57,200 963,222
– (7,298) – (7,298)
347,114 303,460 79,950 3,042,665
26,717 104,499 158,917 306,439
(7,300) (4,925) – (12,225)
366,531 403,034 238,867 3,336,879
211,068 98,954 – 1,407,710
37,664 76,079 – 441,891
– (7,298) – (7,298)
248,732 167,735 – 1,842,303
49,688 99,002 – 385,190
(7,212) (4,925) – (12,137)
291,208 261,812 – 2,215,356
75,323 141,222 238,867 1,121,523
98,382 135,725 79,950 1,200,362

69
7. Telecom frequency fees receivable
Telecom frequency fee receivables represent amounts due from customers in respect of equipment license fees, frequency
registration fees and other fees together with penalties for delays in payment of license fees.
2010 2009
RO RO

Fees and penalties receivable 1,818,218 3,678,946
Less: Provision for impairment of receivables (745,634) (3,273,033)

1,072,584 405,913
The movement in provision for impairment of telecom frequency fees receivables is as follows:
2010 2009
RO RO

At1 January 3,273,033 1,245,189
Add: Charge during the year 226,467 2,049,999
Less: Provision released during the year (2,753,866) (22,155)

At 31 December 745,634 3,273,033
The bulk of the provision for impairment of telecom frequency fees receivables in 2009 is in respect of amounts
due from certain entities who have disputed the basis and the amounts of fees and penalties charged to them
by the Authority. Whilst the Authority believes that the amounts are fully recoverable, it has established full provision
in respect of the disputed amounts because the ultimate outcome of the disputes cannot presently be determined.
At the end of the reporting period, aggregate amount of RO 2.682 million of the released provision pertains to the provision
made for receivables from Diwan of Royal Court DG and Ministry of Information on account of subsequent collections of
receivable from these parties.
The allowance account in respect of telecom frequency fees receivables is used to record impairment losses unless the
Authority is satisfied that no recovery of the amount owing is possible, at which point the amount considered irrecoverable
is written off against allowance account.

70
8. Advances and other receivables
2010 2009
RO RO

Advances to suppliers 37,897 42,905
Prepayments 100,177 50,576
Other receivables 30,864 147,279

168,938 240,760
9. Fixed deposits
The fixed deposits of RO 17.5 million (2009: RO 14.8 million) represent deposits made with local banks for a period
of five to six months and carry interest of1.15% to1.25% (2009: 3.25% to 4%) per annum.
10. Cash and cash equivalents
2010 2009
RO RO

Cash on hand 500 500
Cash at bank 5,135,309 7,438,334

5,135,809 7,438,834
11. Surplus transfer to the Ministry of Finance (MoF)
In accordance with Article18 of Royal Decree 30/2002 and its amendments on Royal Decree134/2008, the surplus amount
as per Article11(6c) shall be the amount transferable to the Government (represented by Ministry of Finance).
In 2010, dividends equal to the excess annual license fee, in respect of 2008, amounting to RO 544,190 was paid
to the owners towards refund to the operators.

71
12. Deferred government contributions
2010 2009
RO RO

At1 January 2,681,563 3,114,640
Amortised as income during the year (362,829) (415,577)
Recognised as income during the year (23,000) (17,500)
Fund received from government 22,715 –

At 31 December 2,318,449 2,681,563
a) The Government contributions towards the acquisition of assets are initially recognised as deferred income and are
credited to the profit or loss over the estimated useful economic lives of the assets involved. The income amortised
during the year related to the assets amounted to RO 362,829 (2009: RO 415,577).
b) As expenditure arises from the grant allocated to operating costs, income is recognised in profit or loss. The income
recognised during the year amounted to RO 23,000 (2009: RO17,500).
13. End of service benefits
2010 2009
RO RO

At1 January 463,931 339,748
Charge for the year (Note18) 153,757 132,771
Payments made (24,173) (8,588)

At 31 December 593,515 463,931
14. Trade and other payables

Advances from customers 5,795,715 6,923,956
Accrued expenses 492,941 419,190
Provision for consultancy 357,643 272,194
Accounts payable 152,180 468,798
Deposits from customers 46,600 40,300
Royalties payable 33,136 141,515
Payable to operators 1,590,849 –
Other payables 284,123 310,683

8,753,187 8,576,636
Advances from customers relate to the license fees and registration fees received by the Authority in advance.

72
15. Radio spectrum income
2010 2009
RO RO

Licensing fee for use of frequency spectra 8,595,173 8,761,147
Penalties and other charges 563,880 3,018,584
Application fees 323,200 277,900
Frequency registration fees 68,838 67,000
Cancellation fees 42,800 43,450
Amendment fees 32,685 65,415
Equipment retention fees 10,950 7,250
Survey fees 1,450 1,201

9,638,976 12,241,947
16. Annual telecom licenses
In accordance with Article11 of the Telecom Act, issued under the Royal Decree 30/2002, the Authority has charged Om-
antel, Oman Mobile and Omani Qatari Telecommunication Co. (Nawras) an amount of RO 3,782,853 (2009: RO 3,187,584),
towards the running costs and expenses incurred by the Authority in respect of the telecommunication
expenses for the year ended 31 December 2010 in performing its function as a regulatory body.
The charge is initially determined by Management based on the Authority’s budget for the year as approved by the Council
of Ministers and adjusted based on the actual cost determined. Accordingly, an amount of RO 1,590,849 is determined to
be refunded to the operators for the year ended 31 December 2010. As a result, the revenue from annual telecom licenses
was RO 2,192,004.
17. Telecom equipment type approval income
2010 2009
RO RO

Import permit 27,610 23,115
Radio equipment 34,105 34,835
GSM equipment 11,760 13,375
Other terminal equipment 16,120 12,575
Registration fees 17,452 14,325
Others 43,722 26,297

150,769 124,522

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18. Salaries and related costs
2010 2009
RO RO

Wages and salaries 1,982,546 1,800,198
Bonus 515,018 287,076
Staff training and development 214,531 193,507
Social insurance 195,833 184,231
End of service benefits (Note13) 153,757 132,771
Other benefits 99,155 93,108

3,160,840 2,690,891
19. General and administrative expenses

Advertisement and publications 221,361 170,362
Travel expenses 230,513 228,098
Rent 130,544 126,441
Sponsorships and workshops 71,470 –
Communications 52,263 44,377
Printing and stationary 45,240 34,779
Repairs and maintenances 29,042 21,530
Membership fee 24,736 23,550
Utilities 15,536 13,403
Subscription for books and periodicals 12,556 7,067
Professional services 10,500 10,500
Recruitment charges 9,842 23,673
Miscellaneous expenses 73,808 37,941

927,411 741,721
20. Monitoring station costs

Management fees 450,000 400,000
The above cost pertains to the amount paid by the Authority for the maintenance and management of the
monitoring station.
21. Donations to charitable institutions
As per Article16 of the Telecom Act, issued under the Royal Decree 30/2002, income generated from Special Numbers can
be retained by the Authority for donations to charitable institutions. Hence, during 2010, RO186,000 was used to finance the
donations made to various charitable institutions.

74
22. Interest income
2010 2009
RO RO

Interest on bank current accounts 34,136 52,396
Interest on fixed deposits 361,951 819,049

396,087 871,445
23. Taxation
In accordance with Article19 of the Telecom Act, issued under the Royal Decree 30/2002, the Authority’s assets
and income are exempt from taxes in the Sultanate of Oman.
24. Commitments
Commitments, for which no provision has been made in these financial statements, are in respect of the property
and equipment, as follows:
2010 2009
RO RO
Capital commitments
Contracted for 2,110,000 1,199,228
Operational commitments
Letters of credit – 232,973
25. Related parties
Related parties comprise the members, key management personnel and entities in which they have the ability
to control or exercise significant influence in financial and operating decisions. The Authority maintains balances
with these related parties which the Management consider to be comparable with those adopted for arm’s length
transactions with third parties.
The following is a summary of significant transactions with related parties which are included in the financial statements:
Remuneration to members
2010 2009
RO RO
Full-time members’ remuneration 120,000 120,000
Key management compensation

Basic salaries and allowances 284,772 271,648
Other benefits and expenses 67,403 42,188
Social security costs 28,729 27,724
End of service benefits 20,127 19,818

401,031 361,378

75
26. Credit risk
Exposure to credit risk
The carrying amount of financial assets represents the maximum credit exposure. The exposure to credit risk
at the end of the reporting period was on account of:
2010 2009
RO RO

Telecom frequency fees receivable 1,818,218 3,678,946
Other receivables 68,761 190,184
Fixed deposits 17,500,000 14,800,000
Cash at bank 5,135,309 7,438,334

24,522,288 26,107,464
The exposure to credit risk for telecom frequency fees receivables at the end of the reporting period by type
of customer was:
2010 2009
RO RO
Government customers 1,412,302 3,044,226
Al Farz trading 50,287 50,287
Desert Line Projects 45,558 45,558
Nawras 1,374 –
Sinohydro Corporation-Oman Branch – 133,514
ADHI Oman LLC – 120,000
Other customers 308,697 285,361

1,818,218 3,678,946
The age of telecom frequency fees receivables and related impairment provision at the end of the reporting
period was:
2010 2009
Gross Impairment Gross Impairment
RO RO RO RO

Not past due 29,168 – 30,070 –
Past due 0 –1 year 257,931 101,756 2,111,585 1,735,742
1 – 2 years 395,362 336,719 778,235 778,235
More than 2 years 1,135,757 307,159 759,056 759,056

1,818,218 745,634 3,678,946 3,273,033

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27. Liquidity risk
The following are the maturities of the financial liabilities:
31 December 2010
Carrying 6 months 6-12
amount or less months
RO RO RO

Accounts payable 152,180 152,180 –
Other payables 2,758,693 2,464,013 294,680

2,910,873 2,616,193 294,680
31 December 2009
Accounts payable 468,798 468,798 –
Other payables 1,143,582 834,345 309,237

1,612,380 1,303,143 309,237
The Government guarantees payment of the Authority’s obligations on due dates. The Authority ensures that sufficient
cash is maintained to cover its outstanding liabilities.
28. Interest rate risk
At the end of the reporting period the interest rate profile of the Authority’s interest bearing financial instruments was:
2010 2009
RO RO
Fixed rate instruments

Financial assets 17,500,000 14,800,000
29. Approval of financial statements
The financial statements were approved by the members and authorised for issue on 29 March 2011.

Annual Report 2010

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Annual Report 2010