Digitizing A Nation
Talal Said Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel, explains how the company is helping to shape Oman’s digital future.
How is your latest initiative, Omantel Innovation Labs, contributing to Oman’s vision for the future?
Omantel Innovation Labs are contributing to Oman’s Vision 2040 by promoting innovation and entrepreneurship in new and emerging technologies. For this initiative, Omantel is leveraging its expertise, partnerships, reach, and access to technology to accelerate the growth of relevant Oman-based technology start-ups across five technological verticals: 5G, Internet of Things (IoT), cybersecurity, customer experience technology, and big data.
The initiative aims to speed up the development and deployment solutions to Oman- and Omantelcentric challenges. They also aim to put the company at the heart of Oman’s emerging culture of entrepreneurial growth through digitization.
How is Omantel contributing to the start-up ecosystem in Oman?
In addition to Omantel Innovation Labs, we are supporting nation-wide initiatives on start-ups by taking two broad approaches: support through training and capacity building, and support through services.
In cooperation with a number of other organizations and government ministries, Omantel has launched Upgrade, a multi-sectoral initiative to transform graduating students’ class projects into financially viable ICT start-ups. Meanwhile, the Edlal program on entrepreneurship, co-founded by Omantel, has been providing unique courses to startups, students, employees, and job seekers since 2017.
What’s more, Omantel offers a suite of specialized telecommunications services to match the needs of small but growing businesses.
How is Omantel enabling future industries like Fintech and the Internet of Things?
Omantel’s digital wallet ‘eFloos’ is a great example of Fintech. The digital wallet enables its users to perform fund remittances with users of other digital wallets or banks in the sultanate. In addition, the company has introduced Teamway, a product that offers a smart point of sale (POS) service with integrated enterprise resource planning (ERP). The product automates financial processes for SMEs and enables the sector to embrace digital transformation.
Furthermore, by partnering with global firms, Omantel and its IoT subsidiary company, mOmkin, are enhancing IoT and machineto-machine infrastructure, and delivering e-services, portal content
management, and enhanced levels of network optimization and security. Meanwhile, on the capacitybuilding front, Omantel’s initiatives include the Internet of Things lab, a collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University and mOmkin. The company has also enabled Oman’s and the Middle East’s first artificial intelligence and IoTpowered e-Dukkan Store, introducing a cashless, grab-and-go shopping experience to the region.
How is Omantel promoting digital inclusion?
Digital experiences have become a way of life and digital inclusion is achieved by extending telecom services to every member of society. To this end, Omantel has close to 100% service coverage, with highspeed internet reaching even the most remote areas. In addition, Oman has a robust digital policy and legislation in place, which Omantel lends its support to.
The company has also provided Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) technologies such as IoT, artificial intelligence, smart cities, block chain, and most recently, the 5G network. We partner with various world-leading firms, too, to make communications technology more achievable, accessible, and affordable.
What has Oman’s approach been to 5G rollout?
Oman has embraced 5G in all prominent sectors. The rollout began in 2019, starting with fixed home broadband before introducing it for mobile phones in the first quarter of 2021 – Oman’s first network operator to do so. This technology is supporting the sultanate’s digital transformation and will pave the way for achieving objectives of Oman Vision 2040.
Omantel has piloted two major 5G projects in Oman’s transport and logistics sector that showcase the use of 5G infrastructure beyond network speed and efficiency, and it recently conducted a successful test of the 5G mmWave, which promises to help the company meet future demand for high quality connectivity.
What community initiatives is Omantel focusing on?
Omantel’s CSR strategy is defined by four focus areas: education, entrepreneurship, community wellbeing, and environment.
On the topic of education, Omantel has always contributed towards a digitally competent society in which everyone has equitable access to quality education and technical and vocational training.
For entrepreneurship, Omantel ensures sustainability of new funding and incubation programs in ICT and 4IR, and it offers access to state-ofthe-art technologies and services. It also supports women’s empowerment and engages in social partnerships that lead to opportunities for sustainable incomes and jobs.
Meanwhile, as part of its responsibility towards the community, Omantel has always contributed towards increasing awareness regarding health and lifestyle issues, and it recently played a vital role in supporting the community when COVID-19 hit. The company procured COVID-19 testing kits, launched virtual clinics in cooperation with Royal Hospital and introduced G Suite for Education for remote learning. These are just a few examples of its commitment to society.
Last but not least, environmental initiatives are close to Omantel’s heart. These include supporting waste reduction and management initiatives, raising awareness on environmental issues, and enabling infrastructure that supports the environmentally friendly development of Oman. The Omantel HQ itself is an example of sustainable practices, and became the first building in Oman to obtain the LEED Platinum certification.
“Omantel has close to 100% service coverage, with high-speed internet reaching even the most remote areas.”
This comes as a result of Oman’s financial position, which was one of the weakest compared to its oil-rich Arabian Gulf allies. The country’s GDP contracted by 6.4% in 2020, with the construction, hospitality, and wholesale and retail trade sectors suffering the worst downturns. The non-hydrocarbon GDP is estimated to have contracted by 10%. The GDP at current prices was down by 2.5% in the first quarter of 2021, as oil activities declined 20.6%, while the non-oil sector was up by 5.7%, the ministry said, according to a Reuters report. Meanwhile, Oman’s budget deficit increased to 18% of GDP in 2020, with the nation’s 2021 budget deficit estimated at about 8% of GDP ($5.7 billion). The latest economic data shows that Oman’s budget deficit stood at $2.1 billion in the first four months of 2021, compared to a budget surplus of $348.6 million during the same period in 2020. It reached $2.3 billion in May.
On the tourism and hospitality front, hotels in the three-to-five-star category in Oman recorded total revenues of $222.8 million by the end of December 2020, falling 62.9% compared to 2019’s $569.2 million revenue. The number of passengers traveling through the airports of the Sultanate of Oman declined by 74.3% in 2020, compared to the same period in the previous year.
Policies and plans
To try to plug its widening budget deficit, the government of Oman has been raising money from different entities, with public debt expected to reach more than $56.4 billion in 2021. It has announced several bond issuances in the last year, with the latest issuance coming in January 2021. The issuance was its third in just three months, selling $3.2 billion in bonds. The Gulf nation has also withdrawn $1.5 billion from its sovereign wealth fund, the Oman
Investment Authority, and has reportedly received $1 billion in direct financial support from Qatar.
Oman has also created a new state-owned energy company in an effort to use its largest oil block to raise debt. The new energy firm, Energy Development Oman, will own a stake in Petroleum Development Oman as well as an interest in Block 6. It will be headed by Haifa Al Khaifi as CEO. It’s reportedly in talks with banks to raise $1.5 billion.
Oman has introduced a number of proactive policy measures to address its economic woes, with Oman’s Ministry of Economy publishing details for its tenth five-year development plan, 2021-2025, earlier this year. The plan seeks to boost the economy, develop a macroeconomy environment, upgrade the performance of general finance as well as rationalize public spending and promote disciplined financial policy that achieves sustainable growth. It will also form the base budget for the National Vision 2040.
Oman is currently developing a unified financial system that will incorporate all associated financial transactions of government units and their budgets. The ministry said the system aims to enhance public spending management, promote financial control, and integrate financial systems and processes in all government units. It is also developing an interactive platform that seeks to improve public finance and achieve its sustainability. This involves enhancing community participation and the national register of government assets.
In an effort to address rare protests over unemployment, Sultan Haitham announced a plan to create more than 32,000 jobs for Omanis during 2021, with 12,000 in the government’s civil and military establishments. This comes in addition to earlier job creation efforts where it was announced that certain job categories in the private sector would be completely nationalized in Oman. Work permits for expats in these professions will not be renewed after their expiration.
Major changes are also happening in the form of labor law reformations for expats. This includes the abolition of the requirement for expat workers to obtain a permit to transfer to a new employer, which was known as “the no-objection certificate system.” The country has seen an exodus of foreign workers with more than 270,000 expat workers in Oman leaving the country in the first 11 months of 2020.