Sharqiyah Expressway to get mobile coverage

The 191km long Sharqiyah Expressway that will open for traffic on Monday (January 20) will get mobile connectivity by the end of the month, the Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRA) has said.

The expressway which starts from Bidbid in Dakhliyah, passing through the Al Uq area and ending in Al Kamil W’Al Wafi in South Sharqiyah, also has a 1,400m tunnel, the longest in the sultanate, apart from another 600m long one in Nadab.

According to TRA, more than 90 per cent of the Sharqiyah Expressway will be covered by basic mobile (voice) services by the end of this month. ‘The telecom companies will provide necessary solutions to cover the tunnels by installing external communication stations on both sides of each tunnel to ensure the availability of the service.’

TRA added that it is currently working to enhance the coverage on the expressway by building 20 additional mobile communication stations to provide voice and high-speed Internet services.

TRA, headed by its CEO Dr Hamad bin Salem al Rawahi, had undertaken a field visit to the expressway recently along with the sector partners Oman Tower Company, Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone Oman to ensure proper communication infrastructure on the road.

To complement the implementation of what was agreed upon during the visit, the authority held a meeting with business partners headed by Eng Yousef bin Abdullah al Balushi, deputy CEO for spectrum management affairs, TRA, to discuss urgent solutions and define the roles of each party and expedite the implementation of services before opening of the road.