Omantel sets up arm for data backup services

Omantel, the largest telecom services provider in the sultanate, has formed a new subsidiary to provide data backup and hosting services to government, banking and oil and gas sector clients in the domestic and regional markets.

The new subsidiary, Oman Data Park, which is currently under formation, is a joint venture between Omantel and 4Trust. Omantel  owns a majority 60 per cent stake in the subsidiary, which is being set up at the Knowledge Oasis Muscat (KOM).

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Omantel investors' meeting at City Seasons Hotel on Monday, Todd Dick, vice president, corporate, Omantel, said that the company is likely to start providing services by the end of 2012.

He said, “The company is under formation and we are working on introducing it to the market as soon as possible. Considerable work on setting up the company has already been carried out.

“Omantel's experience in connectivity and reach to enterprises and 4Trust's experience in data management, allocation and hosting services will ensure a combined approach for the success of the new entity. It is going to be a very successful business model for Omantel.”

Declining to comment on the capital investment in the new subsidiary, he said that the two major potential sectors for Oman Data Park would be government and banking. “These are two strong verticals that would need our new services.”

Dick said that Omantel's robust connectivity, with five current submarine cables and four upcoming submarine cable landings at multiple locations in the sultanate, would encourage corporations in neighbouring countries to consider Oman as a place to co-locate their data services.

“For instance, HSBC in Dubai has already considered moving its services out of Dubai and co-locating them in Oman. Qatar National Bank is also looking to move their data services out of Qatar to Oman for backup and redundancy purposes. We think this is just a start of what the future will be like in Oman for these services. There is a lot of opportunity in this line of business.”

Dick added that companies' requirements for business continuity plans and 'co-location for backup services' are the main reasons behind the setting up of Oman Data Park.

He said, “There are companies that may also prefer services hosted by our data centre rather than building services themselves.”