Abu Dhabi – Mubasher: Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat) on Wednesday submitted a new bid to compete with Mobile Telecommunications (Zain) and Saudi Telecom Company (STC) for Oman's third mobile network licence, according to a press release.
The qualified bidders will be announced on 14 August, Etisalat said on Wednesday in a statement to the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX).
Zain had submitted its bid on Monday, while STC had submitted its offer on Sunday.
In 2016, the Omani Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) had invited companies to bid for the country's first mobile phone licence since Ooredoo Oman started its activity in 2004.
The penetration of mobile services in Oman reached 151%, with the number of users reaching 6.87 million in the fourth quarter of 2016, according to a statements by the TRA.
The market share of Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) and Ooredoo Oman is about 41%, while the share of mobile virtual network operators reaches about 17%.
Omantel and Ooredoo attributed the drop in their profits Q1-17 to high royalties and taxes.
