Case Study Omantel

Omantel Connects to Europe via AMS-IX

As a rather neutral country with many international connections the Sultanate of Oman has the ability to become a regional centre for telecom connections. National operator Omantel is claiming this position in the region and just made a European connection via AMS-IX in Amsterdam.

Omantel had 2,15 million mobile subscribers of its own on June 30th, plus 425.000 via service providers. About 85 per cent of the customers is prepaid. Fixed telecom is much less with only 243.000 subscribers.

A similar picture is visible for broadband. On June 30th Omantel only had 48.000 fixed broadband subscribers, but a staggering 226.000 mobile broadband customers. Mobile broadband grew an impressive 88% over the first half of 2011.

Omantel supported the Information Technology Authority (ITA) for its 'National PC Initiative' with the objective to increase the ownership and usage of personal computers amongst certain segments (e.g. social welfare, students and teachers) of the Omani population. Omantel has provided free Internet service up to one year as part of this initiative.

Via Amsterdam

"Most of the content we need to deliver to our customers comes from Europe, so we definitely needed a direct European connection in order o make the IP-traffic with Europe cheaper. We made a selection from the main Internet exchanges available in Europe reviewing: number of peering possibilities, kind of organizations, qualities of service and cost", explains Johannes Boersma, Senior Manager Business Relations & Agreements - Wholesale Unit at Omantel

Omantel reviewed the London Internet Exchange (LINX), Deutsche Internet Exchange (DE-CIX), French Internet Exchange (SFINX) and AMS-IX. Amsterdam won the bid'. "We looked particularly to the organization, the amount of parties you can peer with. This was all favorable in Amsterdam, as was the price. So the final choice was not very difficult."

AMS-IX is the first point of presence outside the sultanate for Omantel.

What is the cost for this connection?

Mr. Boersma details: "We started with AMS-IX with a connection of 2 Gigabit Ethernet for a few hundred euro per month for port, plus a few euros per month for the location."In Amsterdam Omantel got also direct peering connections with many relevant and beneficial transit parties including KPN and TeliaSonera.

Middle-East hub

Omantel wants to grow in the area of international IP transit trade. "We now have only one customer who has no sea cable connection, but we want to expand these kind of services in order to get more customers in this region. We want o be a regional hub for the Middle-East." said Mr. Boersma.

Mr. Boersma further explains the new strategy: "Initially Omantel was not focused on that market, but when we started discussions with one of the biggest content providers in the world we saw this opportunity. We just signed with a leading American Internet company whose name must remain confidential for now. They have chosen Oman and Omantel as their regional hub, which is a very important starting point for us."

"We are investing not just for our national network but also for the important EPEG, European-Persian Express Gateway, with TIC from Iran, Cable & Wireless from the UK and Ross Telecom. We can now provide landline connections from Oman to many countries like Russia, Azerbaijan as well as to Frankfurt, as well as submarine capacity via the Gulf to other Middle Eastern land markets."

Johannes Boersma is responsible for New Business Development of the Wholesale Market served by Omantel as well to negotiate Framework Agreements with National and International Wholesale customers.