Ooredoo to boost revenue from internet services

25/12/2017 06:20 AST

The Omani Qatari Telecommunications Company, popularly known as Ooredoo, plans to enhance its revenue from internet services as traditional revenue streams like voice and short messaging services are on the decline.

"Data is on a steep growth path. The home broadband penetration level in Oman is at 58 per cent which means that there is still room for growth," said Ian Dench, chief executive officer of Ooredoo, to Times of Oman in an exclusive interview.

He said that the demand for data was growing, driven by increasing customer needs. As a result, the whole strategy is focused on making Ooredoo a data-centric digital company.

Dench said that Ooredoo, which has a total customer base of 3.1 million people, will expand its 4G coverage (which has a speed of 55 Mbps) to 90 per cent of the populated areas at the beginning of next year. "At the same time, we are expanding our 4G+ coverage area, which has a speed of up to 75 Mbps. The difference between 4G and 4G+ is of speed as it provides a better data experience."

He said that the company planned to expand its 4G and 4G+ coverage to strengthen internet speed in the interior regions. "Also, we are serving our customers with fibre-to-home connections. We work with the Oman Broadband Company (OBC) to provide fibre optic services," noted the Ooredoo chief.

The company offers various plans for superfast fibre-to-home broadband at speeds ranging from 20 Mbps up to 1 Gbps. Apart from enhancing data connectivity, Ooredoo is focusing on better products and services, as well as affordable data plans for different types of customers to suit their data usage. Another focus area is customer service through various digital channels. "Increasingly, customers want to interact with us through their smartphones, website or self-serving machines." The plan is to widen the accessibility of the company's digital channels with enhanced features to make it easy for customers to change their plans or check data consumption. "Our target is to achieve 50 per cent of our interaction with customers through digital channels within three years," noted Dench.

As far as business customers are concerned, Ooredoo plans to smoothen the corporate sector's transition into the digital economy. "Increasingly, we are providing cloud and managed services. Here, we want to be a digital partner."

Ooredoo is also investing in the Internet of Things (IoT) technology and working on several trials and new services. IoT services are mainly for connecting water and electricity meters or any other devices.

The Ooredoo chief also said that the company was looking at enhancing operational efficiency as the telecom firms in Oman were operating in a different environment due to changes in royalty and income tax rates.

Referring to the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority's plans to allow a third operator, he said; "We have been preparing for competition for some time. We anticipate the new company to start operation by the middle of next year. The delay in the process gives us slightly more breathing room to prepare."

Times of Oman