Oman has become the next country to announce plans to decommission its 3G network.
The country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Bureau (TRA) announced that 3G mobile services will be phased out starting in the third quarter of 2024. This is reported by CommsUpdate .
The TRA notes that the purpose of decommissioning mobile communication networks operating in the 3G standard is the desire of providers to free up the frequency spectrum for the development of new technologies, such as 4G and 5G. The disconnection of outdated networks will take place in Oman gradually – starting with the least populated areas of the country.
According to TeleGeography, there are three mobile operators operating in Oman: the state-owned Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel), Qatar-owned Ooredoo Oman, and a new local company, Oman Future Telecommunications, which operates under the Vodafone brand.
According to statistics collected in the first six months of 2022, 21% of the country’s 526,531 broadband subscribers accessed the network using 5G technology. 49% of broadband subscribers lived in the governorate (province) of Muscat. The population of the Muscat agglomeration in 2022 was approximately 1,623,000. The total population of the country is estimated at slightly less than 5.5 million inhabitants.
Plans related to disconnection of 3G networks are already becoming a trend this year. Reports of the decommissioning of these legacy networks come from countries as diverse as the United Kingdom , Greece and Estonia .
Source: https://mediasat.info/