Oman's Ministry of Finance on Monday announced that it has taken the conscious decision to stop the proposed sale of a 25 percent stake in Omantel to a strategic partner as a result of the current conditions in the global capital markets. Darwish Ismail Al Balushi, secretary general of the Ministry of Finance and chairman of the steering committee overseeing the Omantel strategic partnership process, said: “Despite the solid progress we have made with the sale process to date, and the continued strong interest shown by the bidders, the unprecedented market volatility and economic conditions that we are seeing globally has led to the Government taking the prudent decision to stop the sale process.” Omantel has continued to record strong operational and financial performance, with profits for the nine months to Sept. 30 increasing by 29.6 percent to RO106.9 million compared to RO82.6 million recorded during the same period in 2007. Revenues in the quarter grew 16.7 percent to RO314.5 million compared to RO269.5 million for the same period last year. The sale process was launched in July 2008 to find a strategic partner to further strengthen Omantel's market position and establish Omantel as a world-class provider of telecommunications services both in the sultanate and internationally.
