Oman Broadband Company (OBC), the state-owned firm that develops broadband infrastructure in the country, said that the company has succeeded in connecting more than 37,000 homes and institutions with the broadband network in Muscat Governorate, as well as implementing several independent projects to connect many government and private institutions.
The company works in coordination with all stakeholders in the public and private sectors to achieve its vision of providing high speed broadband infrastructure reaching 50 per cent of urban premises end of 2020 and 95 per cent of urban premises by 2030, according to a press release. While closing the rural connectivity gap by 2020 in alignment with the government’s vision to building a sustainable knowledge-based economy.
OBC also ended this year with a significant increase in the number of Omani employees, reaching 133 out of 146 employees working in the company. The Omanisation percentage exceeded 91 per cent, thus becoming one of the leading companies in terms of Omanisation within the technical field. In addition, there has also been a significant increase in the number of Omani small and medium enterprises (SME) contracts awarded by the company.
“Our approach towards enhancing the percentage of Omanisation is in line with the guidance of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said. He has pointed out on numerous occasions that building the country can only be done by the hands of its loyal citizens. Thus, one of the key pillars of our operations was to enhance our work environment and to attract the best national talent with the aim of maintaining the sustainability and stability of the company,” said Eng. Said bin Abdullah Al Mantheri, CEO of Oman Broadband Company.
“We have a clear strategy in place for promoting local added value, where priority will always be given to Omani companies, particularly SMEs, for all our contracts. We have already showcased our support to the sector over the course of the last nine months, with 21 per cent of our contracts being awarded to SMEs. This stems from our belief in the significant role played by these enterprises in supporting the national economy,” added Al Mantheri.
The Human Resources Department at Oman Broadband Company emphasised that the company’s strategy since its inception was focused on attracting the best possible Omani talent within the technical field. Over the past three years, the company has worked towards training its employees; empowering them towards achieving their career growth and assume leadership and supervisory positions within the company. Today, the company has reached 100 per cent Omanisation of the executive leadership of the company.
The department has also worked towards enhancing the attractiveness of the work environment and continually encouraged the team to deliver their best performance through an incentive system and other such programmes. These help in improving competitiveness and developing staff performance in accordance with standards adopted by most leading companies. As an example, the department organised a training course for 79 employees in 2017.