Subscribers of fixed line phone services in the Sultanate exceeded 420,000 at the end of September, as the subscribers of GSM services exceeded 6.5 million and active subscribers of mobile broadband exceeded 3.1 million.
This was revealed by data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), which pointed out that subscribers for billed fixed phone service in the Sultanate stood at 420,491 at the end of September, compared with 413,492 subscribers at the end of August, reflecting an increase of 12.1 per cent.
Subscribers of pre-paid fixed phone services (Sahl) were pegged at 50.036 million, up from 47.804 million at the end of August. The data also showed that the number of fixed telephone line subscribers stood at 316,258 in September, rising from 311,665 at the end of August.
The total number of public phones all over the Sultanate was 6,801. The number of integrated services digital networks (ISDN) also witnessed a slight increase. Subscribers of billed GSM services stood at 6,561,696 at the end of September, compared with 6,508,781 in August, showing a 5.9 per cent uptick.
Subscribers of pre-paid GSM service rose by 5.7 per cent to 5,986,372 in September, from 5,942,240 at the end of August. The statistics also pointed out that the total subscribers of internet at the end of September 2015 stood at 216,382, compared with 208,634 subscribers at the end of August.
Subscribers of fixed broadband services stood at 213,557 at the end of September, compared with 205,794 at the end August, reflecting an increase of 20.6 per cent. The number of active subscribers of mobile broadband stood at 3,119,406 at the end of September, compared with 3.806.998 at the end of August, showing a 7.8 per cent jump.