Oman to benefit from extensions to submarine cables
Oman’s principal telcos Ooredoo and Omantel have both invested in several international submarine cables. Omantel’s network reaches over 50 countries globally.
The country is to gain additional international capacity with the 2Africa cable. In September 2021 it was announced that this cable will be extended to the Arabian Gulf, India, and Pakistan, bringing its total length to over 45,000km. This additional section is known as 2Africa PEARLS. The landing station for Oman will be at Barka.
Google is also building the Blue-Raman cable linking multiple countries between Italy and India. The Raman section is being built in partnership Omantel, and will run from Jordan to Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman, and India at Mumbai. The Blue and Raman sections will each have 16 fibre pairs, and are expected to be lit in 2024.
In addition, the 9,800km Oman Australia Cable running from Muscat to Perth, with the potential for a branch line to Djibouti, is making progress and is expected to be completed in December 2021. This additional infrastructure will provide considerable additional bandwidth.