In Oman there is already a GSM network with 500,000 subscribers. Ericsson is the sole supplier of the network, which covers the capital Muscat and its surrounding region, an area with around 600,000 inhabitants.

Government-owned Omantel, full name Oman Telecommunication Company, deployed the original GSM network commercially six years ago.

Johan Löjdquist, Key Account Manager for Omantel, says: "This GSM network expansion gives Omantel increased capacity to meet the fast growing subscriber growth. A new GSM-license will be awarded in the country next year, so this order is a way for Omantel to prepare itself for the likely competition."

The GSM order is Ericsson's largest Middle Eastern order outside Saudi Arabia.

Omantel plans to market GPRS and MMS services during 2004. Deployment begins later this year.

Twenty years ago, the first mobile phone network was deployed in Oman: an Ericsson NMT 450 analog system. Ericsson was awarded its first contract in Oman, for a nationwide telephone network, around 30 years ago.