MVNOs Mazoon, FRiENDi and Majan race to launch in Oman

Mazoon Mobile will compete with FRiENDi Mobile and Majan Telecom to be the first mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) to launch in Oman, which could be as soon as January.

CEO of Etisalcom Rashid Al-Snan said Mazoon will cater to the lower-income expatriates and students in Oman

Mazoon is owned by Etisalcom, a voice, video and data communications provider in Bahrain, and Etisalcom’s CEO Rashid Al-Snan told Comm. that the operator is in the final stages of negotiating a wholesale agreement with Omantel.

“As soon as we sign the agreement, we need about six weeks to launch,” Al-Snan stated. “We are in exactly the same situation as FRiENDi and Majan, Omantel is still negotiating with all of us. As soon as the agreements are ready, then all of us will be in the same position.”

Al-Snan said Mazoon’s target market will be expatriates and students in the lower-income segment, which are not catered for by the existing mobile providers Oman Mobile, which is currently being integrated into parent company Omantel, and second operator Nawras.

Mazoon, Connect Arabia – the local company which will operate under the FRiENDi banner, and Majan Telecom – which will be known as Renna, were three of the five successful bidders to obtain Class 2 licenses in the sultanate in July. A sixth licence was awarded in October to an unidentified company.

The licenses allow the licensees to purchase bulk minutes from Oman’s two incumbent mobile operators, repackage them and then sell them to the end-user.

Oman’s mobile penetration rate is close to 100 per cent, with Qtel-owned Nawras having garnered a 43 per cent market share since launch in March 2005.