The sultanate's fixed telephone lines registered a rise of 2.8% during the first quarter of the current year compared to the figures by the end of last year. By the end of March, the number of lines increased to 446,918 as against 434,932 last year, according to latest data released by the (NCSI).

Fixed postpaid lines grew 2.6% to 333,554 by the end of March from last year's 325,083, while fixed prepaid telephone lines increased 6.3% to       59,569 as against 56,021 lines in 2015.  ISDN channels (Equivalent DELS) and public pay telephones didn't record any change during the period, with their numbers standing at 45,244 and 6,801 respectively.  WLL connections on the other hand logged a decline of 1.2% to 1,750 connections compared with 1,771 in 2015. On the other hand, the mobile subscriber base (postpaid and prepaid) decreased by a marginal 0.1% to 6.639 million subscribers during the period, compared with last year's 6.646 million. Postpaid mobile subscribers witnessed a growth of 1.6% to 594,558 users, while prepaid mobile connections fell 0.3% to 6.04 million over the period.

Total internet subscribers (dial up and fixed broadband) increased 7.2% to 252,886, compared with 236,004 by the end of last year.  Total Fixed Broadband Subscribers increased 7.3% to 250,214, while Dial-up subscriptions went down by 3.6% to 2,672 by March-end. Active Mobile Broadband Subscribers witnessed a growth of 3.8% to 3.37 million during the first quarter, compared with 3.25 million recorded last year. National Leased Circuits also posted a 0.4% increase at 3,832 over the mentioned period. Main telephone lines, on the other hand, logged a growth of 3.2% to 391,641 by the end of March from last year's 379,617 lines.

The NCSI report further says that Muscat has the highest number of main telephone lines at 219,744, marking a growth of 3.1% over last year figures.  Muscat recorded the largest share (56.1%) of the total main telephone lines in the Sultanate. Dhofar, with a share of 8.9% of the total main telephone lines, came in at second with 35,018 main lines posting an increase of 3.8% during the period, followed by Al Batinah North at 29,321 lines, posting an increase of 4.3% over figures for 2015.  Al- Wusta governorate has the least number of main telephone lines at 1,992, which however witnessed a significant 5.3% growth over last year's 1891 lines. Al Wusta's main telephone lines account for just 0.5% of the total main telephone lines in Oman, the NCSI report says.