Special numbers auction brings over OMR311,000
Both Omantel and Ooredoo were able to attract bidders through the auction under the supervision of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority
MUSCAT: The auction for VIP numbers in Oman fetched a total of OMR311,500, of which Omantel received the highest amount of OMR287,500, while Ooredoo received OMR23,500.
“Under the supervision of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), the two licenced mobile operators—Omantel and Oredoo—concluded the first special number online auction. The two-day auction began on February 8, 2018, and achieved great success with a total of OMR311,500 raised. Of this, OMR287,500 was the value of bids on Omantel numbers and OMR23,500 was raised by Ooredoo. As many as 258 participants registered for the auction, of which 222 registered for Omantel and 36 for the Ooredoo special numbers auction,” TRA said in a statement. Eight out of the 10 numbers on offer by Ooredoo were able to attract bids. Omantel also had bidders for all the numbers up for auction. As many as 20 special numbers from both mobile operators were auctioned. Of these, seven Omantel numbers were diamond numbers and three were gold numbers, while four Ooredoo numbers were diamond numbers and six were gold numbers.
After 66 bids, special number 71111111 was auctioned off for OMR196,000, the highest price that Omantel received. Ooredoo received OMR18,000 after nine bids for its special number 79100000.
Proceeds from the auction will be donated to charities accredited by the Ministry of Social Development.
As per international best prac- tices, the money from number auctions will be allocated to charitable organisations approved by the Ministry of Social Development in the Sultanate, as stipulated by Article (16) of the Telecommunications Regulatory Act and its executive regulations (49), which stipulates: “The Authority shall determine and collect the allocation charge for premium numbers and shall deposit the proceeds in a special account to be spent in the public good purposes according to Article (16) of the Act.”
“Accordingly, the TRA follows a defined mechanism to distribute the auction proceeds on an annual basis, where the TRA contacts charities at the beginning of each year to submit their annual plans and projects for the TRA. The TRA will then study these plans and projects and determine a specific amount of total revenue from special numbers auctions for distribution to these organisations, after obtaining the approval of the TRA Board of Directors,” the TRA stated.
With regard to the bidding registration fee, this is regulated by the recently issued Regulation organising the allocation of telecommunications numbers pursuant to Decision (No 1/2018), under which diamond and gold numbers are auctioned as per the controls set out in this regulation, with the objective of achieving transparency in the allocation of telecommunication numbers between users.
The Regulation also stipulates that the telecom companies are entitled to three per cent of the registration proceeds of OMR20 per bid registration, with a maximum of OMR5,000 for each auction after deducting any charges payable for online payment.