Nawras

Nawras telecommunications company

Starting out six years ago, Nawras has grown to become Oman’s fourth largest company by market capitalization.

Beginning as the Sultanate’s first privately owned mobile telecommunications licensee, 10,000 customers were signed within days of launching services. Along the way, Nawras has built a reputation for business flair, innovation, and outstanding customer service. They passed the two million mobile customer mark in August 2010.

Nawras is now a full-service telecommunications company, with a nationwide team of 873 people, offering broadband internet and voice, data and 3G+ mobile services.

Having successfully listed on the Muscat Securities Market in November 2010, the Company is poised to embark on the next chapter in a remarkable story of achievement.

Nawras is a mobile communications provider in the Sultanate of Oman. The services were commercially launched on 16 March 2005 in the market previously occupied by a sole operator Omantel. In November 2008 Nawras was awarded a license to operate fixed services as well wireless services. Nawras is a joint venture of:

• Qtel, the fixed and mobile operator in Qatar.

• Tele-Denmark Communications, a Danish telecom operator.

• Local Omani partners include Ministry of Defence Pension Fund, Royal Office Pension Fund, Diwan of Royal Court Pension Fund, Internal Security Service Pension Fund and Sultan’s Special Force Pension Fund.

Nawras went public in September of 2010, and announced an Initial Public Offering allowing investors to purchase shares of the company. Nawras, which broke the monopoly of state-controlled Omantel in 2006, was aiming to raise as much as $608 million and had put up 260 million shares priced between 702 and 902 baisas in the Gulf Arab state's first IPO sale through a book-building process.

The telecoms firm had reserved as much as 70 percent of the offer to retail investors, with the rest earmarked for institutional investors.

Earlier in...