Postpaid mobile subscriptions increase by 12.9% by the end of July 2024

There was an increase in postpaid mobile phone subscriptions by 12.9% by the end of July 2024 compared to the same period last year, with their number reaching 1,967,248 subscriptions, according to statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The number of prepaid mobile phone subscriptions decreased by 4.2% to reach 5,091,371 subscriptions, including 3,841,305 subscriptions from operators and 1,250,066 subscriptions from resale.

Meanwhile, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions rose by 0.1% by the end of July 2024 compared to the end of July 2023, with the total number of mobile phone subscriptions (postpaid and prepaid) reaching 7,058,619 subscriptions. The number of active mobile broadband subscriptions reached 5,871,627 subscriptions by the end of July 2024.

Subscriptions to fixed internet service also increased by 5.9% by the end of July 2024 to reach 577,240 subscriptions, compared to the same period in 2023.

The total number of subscriptions to fixed broadband service (more than 256 kilobytes/second) reached 575,538 subscriptions by the end of July 2024, an increase of 5.9% compared to July 2023, while the number of subscriptions via fixed narrowband internet (less than 256 kilobytes/second), which includes telephone calls and some leased internet lines, reached 1,702 subscriptions.

Statistics indicated a decrease in the total fixed telephone line subscriptions by the end of July 2024 by 22.6% to reach 438,193 subscriptions compared to the end of July 2023. As for analogue fixed-line subscriptions, which include prepaid and postpaid, their number decreased by the end of July 2024 by 72.8% to reach 62,882 subscriptions compared to the same period of the previous year.

The number of fixed-line subscriptions connected to Internet Protocol (IP) technology reached 318,661 subscriptions during the same period, recording an increase of 14.8% compared to the end of July 2023. Statistics showed that the number of subscriptions to digital network channels for integrated services decreased by the end of July 2024 by 2% to reach 49,259 subscriptions, while the number of public telephones stabilized at 6,801 and the number of fixed wireless subscriptions decreased by 22% to reach 590 subscriptions.

Among governorates, Muscat ranked first in the number of fixed analogue telephone lines, with a percentage of 47.29% at the end of July 2024, followed by Dhofar Governorate in second place with a percentage of 10.91%, while North Al Batinah Governorate recorded 10.4%, and the percentage of lines in the remaining governorates reached 31.4%.