Oman raises royalty payments for telecom firms

Oman’s telecommunications companies will pay a royalty to the government of 12 per cent of revenues in 2017, the country’s Capital Market Authority said in a bourse statement on Thursday, citing a letter from the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority.

That is an increase from the current 7 per cent royalty paid by Oman Telecommunications (Omantel) and Ooredoo Oman , the companies said in bourse statements.

The CMA said Oman’s cabinet had decided to lift the rate for next year. Its state revenues strained by low oil prices, the government has been looking for ways to increase its income.

Omantel said a rate of 12 per cent would have cost the company an additional OMR16m ($41.6m) in the first nine months of this year. It made a net profit of OMR95.1m in that period.

Ooredoo Oman, majority owned by Qatar’s Ooredoo, said the higher rate would have cost it OMR8.7m over the same period, or 23.3 per cent of its net income.