Telecom services restored in Musandam

MUSCAT: The telecommunication services, hindered by technical problems during the past few days, have been restored in the Musandam Governorate. The communication traffic had gone haywire after one of the marine fiber optic cables snapped, as reported by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

The authority had earlier explained that the breakdown affected the fixed and mobile communications and the Internet, to some extent, in the governorate. The Internet services of Omantel and Ooredoo subscribers were affected as a result of the damage to the submarine cable. The authority acted soon after the problem was reported and coordinated with the companies concerned to restore the telecommunication traffic through the network operation centres.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority, which is headed by Eng Omar bin Hamdan al Ismaili, CEO, said the repair work on the submarine cable has been completed and that the communication services will be made available gradually.

The maintenance teams had the task of repairing the cable after locating the fault, which was time consuming. In addition to that, the companies concerned had to provide alternative telecommunication services to some priority sectors such as health and banking.

Submarine cables are crucial in the transmission and exchange of digital data around the world, as 80 per cent of all communications and data transmission take place through these cables, due to the speed of data flow through them. They also have a high degree of security and confidentiality, besides high accuracy in transmitting signals and low cost compared to satellites and other means.

The authority appreciated the understanding and cooperation of the people of the governorate with the authorities, and praised the continuous efforts made by the maintenance teams to restore Internet services.