Oman has three established MNOs; Omantel, Ooredoo and Vodafone, as well as two mobile resellers Renna Mobile and Friendi Mobile. Vodafone Oman, a partnership between Oman Future Telecommunications and Vodafone, launched in 2023 with roaming agreements in place with both Omantel and Ooredoo to give a national reach. Oman Tower Company is leading Vodafone Oman’s network build out and has secured an additional $70mn in funding to drive further deployments and tenancies on their network.
Oman Tower Company was established in February 2018 by Oman 70 Holding Company, AktivCo and the Omani Government, but Camusat AktivCo has exited the company. As well as its deal with Vodafone Oman, Oman
Tower Company manages 100s of government owned sites and has a sharing agreement with local petroleum group PDO.
Oman - telecom market statistics Q3 2024
In December 2022, Helios Towers closed its US$495mn deal to acquire 2,519 sites from Omantel. The deal also includes a build-to-suit commitment of a further 300 sites. The deal does not include some in-building sites and sensitive locations, but Helios Towers is in ongoing discussions with Oman’s regulator (TRA) to expand their license to include IBS. Helios Towers have identified Oman as an opportunity to test new technologies and
trial new products and services where the technology curve is more advanced including edge data centres and potentially small cells depending on how the tower licensing framework evolves.
While Ooredoo announced their merger with Zain and TASC Towers across 5 markets, their Oman portfolio was left and is part of an ongoing separate sale leaseback. While it is still early in the process and clear timeframe has been set, the TRA has already experienced their first SLB and it is usual for subsequent
deals to complete more quickly.
Oman - estimated tower count Q3 2024
Infrastructure sharing has been limited, with estimates suggesting approximately 10% of towers are shared, but this has started to increase as the MNOs aim to execute the rollout of 4G more cost effectively. Vodafone Oman’s network strategy is focused on colocating on existing sites with OTC and Helios Towers, helping to drive up
currently low tenancy ratios of around 1.1x.
The TRA, Oman’s telecoms regulatory body, has also been pushing colocations and restricting duplicate site building. Helios Towers’ Q4 2023 results saw a change in group strategy towards growing tenancies to drive
asset valuation and free cashflow and are looking at 10–15-meter site upgrades to create space on their mostly single-tenant network.
Both Omantel and Ooredoo have launched commercial 5G services in the country and with a new operator in the form of Vodafone Oman, co-location and new build growth prospects look good. The TRA’s recent announcement that they expect to see
100% of telecom towers supporting 4G and 5G services by the end of 2025 and coverage reaching 98% of the population, significantly more investment will be required by MNOs and towercos to meet these targets. Ooredoo
reports that 94% of its sites are 4G enabled already, but newcomer Vodafone Oman will need to scale quickly to meet these targets.
The TRA is also going to be shutting down 3G networks in Q3 2024 to repurpose spectrum for more advanced 4G and 5G.
