Nawras wins Oman TRA bid

Muscat: A top executive from Nawras, Oman's second mobile telephone service provider, was thrilled to emerge as as a successful bidder for full fixed line public telecommunications services in Oman.

"We are thrilled to have this opportunity to serve the people of Oman," the Nawras CEO Ross Cormac, told Gulf News yesterday after the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) named the company as the successful bidder.

Earlier, PCCW-Awaser Oman Consortium, a joint venture between the Hong Kong-based telecom company Pacific Century Cyber Works (PCCW) and a local partner, had emerged as the highest bidder.

Licence

"The PCCW-Awaser Oman Consortium could not fulfil certain obligations, thus the licence is now being given to Nawras," a statement by Nawras said on Wednesday.

At that time, the PCCW-Awaser Oman Consortium was given 15 working days to honour their obligations before TRA in accordance with the Information Memorandum. No further details were announced by the TRA yesterday.

"We thank TRA for having given us this opportunity," said Cormack.

Nawras has been offering mobile phone services since 2005 and will now have the opportunity to set up its own infrastructure, including marine cables.

"This is a fantastic chance given to us and would give people of the country a variety of services and products," he believes.