Omantel has joined a consortium comprising several East African telecommunications providers to lay the Gulf to Africa (G2A) undersea fibre-optic cable, which is set to revolutionise connectivity from Oman to East Africa, including Ethiopia and Somalia. The G2A undersea cable represents the first phase of Omantel’s expansion eastwards into the African continent, providing cable connectivity to the Middle East, Asia and Europe and transforming Oman into a communications hub of the Middle East. The G2A undersea cable consortium includes Omantel, Ethio Telecom from Ethiopia and Golis Telecom and the Telesom Company from Somalia. The state-of-the-art cable system, scheduled for completion by the end of 2016, will comprise 1,500km Subsea segment and a 1,500km terrestrial segment with a capacity 20Tbits with the latest 100G technology.
Commenting on the regional and global importance of the G2A project, vice president of Omantel wholesale, Sohail Qadir noted: “This is the first step in our journey of expansion into Africa. We will connect Oman directly to Somalia via the Salalah cable landing point, and then extend the cable further into Africa to Ethiopia. Somalia and Ethiopia, currently two highly underserved countries, will soon be connected to our international low-latency network, and in doing so will gain access to all the content hosted in Oman through Omantel and deliver services from Europe and Southeast Asia.”
Korea’s former minister speaks at NBO Chairman’s Speaker Series
National Bank of Oman (NBO) hosted HE Dr Joong-Kyung Choi, former minister of knowledge economy, Korea, as a speaker at the sixth edition of its Chairman’s Speaker Series held at Grand Hyatt, Muscat, recently, under the auspices of HE Eng Mohsin bin Mohammed bin Ali Al Shaikh, chairman of Muscat Municipality. HE Dr Joong-Kyung Choi is well known for his quick policy actions, and has been instrumental in the speedy recovery of Korea during the Asian financial crisis, in addition to strengthening Korean economic ties with other leading economies. In his keynote address, HE Choi talked about his career, and contributions in supporting Korea and other developing countries with necessary economic policies that are sustainable in the longer term. Before an audience of policy makers, dignitaries, entrepreneurs, students, NBO Corporate and Sadara customers and employees, he also shared perspectives on Oman’s diversification-led economic approach and the future growth prospects for the Sultanate.
Commenting on the event, Mohammed Mahfoodh Al Ardhi, chairman of NBO, said: “We were pleased to host HE Dr Joong-Kyung Choi at the sixth edition of the NBO Chairman’s Speaker Series, and the first event of the year. By inviting esteemed speakers such as Dr Joong-Kyung Choi, the event has emerged as an important platform for business leaders and policy makers to engage in dialogues and share insights about emerging economic issues.”