The Information Technology Authority (ITA) and Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) signed recently a Memorandum of Understanding for smart city services, according to which the company will provide the required communication and support services to benefit from the applications of smart city, internet of things, cloud computing services and big data within the Smart City pilot project currently implemented in the Knowledge Oasis Muscat by ITA in cooperation with the public Establishment for Industrial estates.

The MoU was signed by Dr. Salim Bin Sultan Al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA and Talal Bin Said Al Mamari, CEO of (Omantel).

Alruzaiqi said, “We thank Omantel for its cooperation and support for the Smart City pilot project at KOM, which we are working on in cooperation with PEIE. Through this pilot project we seek to leverage the potential offered by the Internet of things technologies and various smart systems to facilitate the management of KOM in a smart way to provide a number of convenient and swift services to employees working at KOM as well as handling the available resources efficiently such as energy consumption, parking and traffic management and other services.”

“We hope that this pilot project to be a mini-model for a smart city application, and can be exported and implemented in other entities and other industrial estates within the Sultanate. This experiment will be as reference for the smart city specifications and requirements that will be implemented in the future”,” he added.

“We are pleased to have such partnerships between the public and private sectors to contribute to the digital community and to benefit from the latest technology in the ICT sector,” said Talal Bin Said Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel.

“This strategic partnership with ITA as the leader of e-Government is a complement to the government’s efforts in embracing the 4th industrial revolution technologies, including smart cities, Internet of things, and artificial intelligence etc… through the adoption of digital lifestyles associated with the smart city in order to achieve a comprehensive vision for the digital society.”

He further pointed out that the company continues to work with related parties to lay the groundwork for the digital society in the Sultanate.

We have had successful technological partnerships with the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and other public and private entities in the field of using ICT the thing which will impact the society as a whole.” Adding that “Omantel and Al Mouj Muscat partnership in Smart Cities field is one of the existing partnerships to achieve the Smart City vision in the Sultanate.”