4.3 per cent dip in mobile subscribers

Muscat, Nov 5 - The total number of mobile subscriptions saw a 4.3 per cent dip to 6,641,975 in September 2018 as against 6,943,910 in December 2017, said the National Centre of Statistics and Information (NCSI). The figure coincides with a 3.2 per cent decline in the expatriate population in September 2018 to 1,802,241 compared with 1,854,480 in the same period a year ago. The number of pre-paid phone subscriptions has declined 5.6 per cent to 5,941,418 as against 6,293,098 at the end of December 2017. At the same time, the number of people using post-paid mobile phone subscriptions is seen an increase of 7.6 per cent to 700,557 from 650,812 subscribers at the end of December 2017. Internet subscriptions saw a 14.8 per cent rise to 403,233 in September 2018 compared with 351,335 in December 2017. The number of private vehicles registered in Oman dropped 45.5 per cent in August 2018. A total of 78,205 new vehicles were registered in 2017. The number of registered commercial vehicles (-10.8) and rental vehicles (-14.7) declined during the period.