The Sultanate’s total number of fixed telephone lines stood at 446,918 constituting a growth by 2.8% in March 2016 compared to the same period in 2015.
The statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) pointed out the (pre-paid) fixed telephone lines rose by 6.3% to 59,569 lines as at the end of March 2016 compared to the end of 2015 while the (post-paid) fixed telephone lines stood at 333,554.
The Sultanate had a total of 6,801 public telephones last year. The number of integrated services digital networks stood at 45,244 whereas the wireless fixed lines fell by 1.2%.
Meanwhile, the number of mobile subscribers as at the end of March 2016 stood 6,639,870 constituting a slight decrease by 0.1% compared to last year.
The largest number was recorded in the post-paid mobile subscribers to 6,045,312 compared as at the end of February 2016, which registered 6,021,576 subscribers, comprising a growth by 0.39%.
The number of Internet subscribers stood at 252,886 at the end of March 2016, compared with 246,422 subscribers last February 2016.
The number of fixed broadband subscribers including DSL and leased lines stood at 250,214, comprising a rise by 7.3% as at the end of March, compared with 243,715 subscribers last February. The active mobile broadband subscribers rose by 3.8% to 3,377,913, compared with figures at the end of 2015.
The Governorate of Muscat had the highest number of fixed telephone lines at 219,744, comprising 56.1% of the total fixed telephones of the Sultanate’s governorates. The Governorate of Dhofar came second at 35,018 subscribers, comprising a rise by 3.8% compared with 2015 while the Governorates of North and South Al Batinah stood at 29,321 and 27,529 subscribers respectively.
The Governorate of A’Dhakhiliyah recorded 27,161 followed by, the Governorate of North A’Sharqiyah with 17,970 subscribers. The Governorate of A’Dhahirah recorded 11,070 subscribers, the Governorate of Al Buraimi recorded 9,577 subscribers, followed the Governorate of Musandam at 4,081 subscribers and the Governorate of Al Wusta at 1,992 subscribers.