Oman's telecom regulator has confirmed that Nawras, the Omani affiliate of Qatar Telecommunications Co (Qtel), had won a licence to set up Oman's second fixed-line network.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said on its website that the licence "was awarded to Nawras Consortium on condition that it will honour all the obligations specified in ... the tender terms and condition relating to the bidding process".

The award ends the monopoly of state-run Oman Telecommunications Co as the Gulf state liberalises the sector as part of efforts to encourage foreign investment to counter falling oil production.

"The extension of Nawras into fixed-line and broadband services complements the Qtel Group's ... strategy to grow its operations across dedicated business lines, as part of its objective to become one of the world's top 20 telecommunications companies by 2020," Qtel said in a statement.

Omantel lost its mobile telephone monopoly when Nawras, which is 70 percent owned by Qtel, started operations in 2005.

Oman, which owns 70 percent of Omantel, invited investor interest in July for the sale of a 25 percent stake in the operator, which it hopes will further boost competitiveness.  - Reuters