Teletimes April 2011.pdf

Technology Authority, what
major aims do you have in
mind for the near future? And
what is your strategy towards
working on these aims?
TAR - As I said before, we
have a national strategy called
Digital Oman and E-governance
strategy, and now we call it in
short E-Oman. This strategy
was developed in 2002,
however, we got approval from
our board of directors early this
year, approving the five year
plan. Government of Oman,
usually carries out its
projects according to
five year plans.
This project has
a time frame
of 2011-
2015. Each
government
works on
projects
according
to its own
time-frame.
The government
have a vision of
Oman in 2020, with
this vision, they have
a number of five year
plans taking place. ITA
this year developed its own
plan, to develop the
IT sector in
Oman.
This
plan has a number of initiatives
regarding training the
government employees and
the public as well as working
with the private sector to
establish the ICT industry here
in Oman. Besides that we
are also working with
different government
organizations, such
as the Ministry of
Commerce or the
Development Bank
of Oman and many
others. There is
another project we are working
on which is about continuing
to develop the infrastructure
in the country such as the
There are a
lot of efforts by
Omantel and Nawras to
expand their reach and
provide Internet and
Mobile Access in the
rural areas.
National Disaster Data Center.
TT - How do you see the level
of information technology
in Oman? Would you like to
compare it with other areas in
the region?
TAR - The closest areas to
which we compare Oman are
the other GCC countries. Oman
is currently at a good level, the
statistics show that recently
the internet penetration rate in
Oman is 69% which is a rapid
increase from what it
was a couple
of years
ago.
The curve is going higher and
higher. The level of information
technology employed and
being used has also increased
significantly. People are
keen, especially the young
people. The majority of the
population is under 25
years of age, and all of
these people are keen
to use the internet
and learn. Mobile
Broadband is also
being highly used in
the country now.
TT - Are there any
problems being faced
by ITA? How are you
working towards overcoming
it?
TAR - There are a number of
challenges in implementing
any IT project. This is not
unique only to Oman but
this is the case for the whole
world. One challenge we face
is that when we try to increase
the penetration rate in the
country, we try to cover the
whole country, and as Oman
is the second largest country
in the GCC, the population is
scattered all over the country,
although there is a number
of efforts taking place, and
we have managed to increase
the penetration rate, but still
we are working with other
organizations and TRA to
help implement our efforts
throughout the country which
is a difficult challenge.
Another challenge we face is
related to the regulation and
the policies of the government.
Every initiative and project
regarding IT implementation
may need some sort of rearrangement
in this regard.
Providing e-services requires in
some aspect, re-engineering of
the processes. This leads to the
need of changing sometimes
the policies and the regulations.
Trying to move the government
from its traditional ways to
18 www.teletimesinternational.com
15Apr - 14May 2011