Monthly Archives: March 2008

Yippee! Finally, Omantel’s monopoly is coming to an end

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MUSCAT –– Oman said on Tuesday it was inviting firms to submit proposals for a second fixed-line telecom licence and a third mobile phone licence as the Gulf Arab state liberalises its telecommunications sector.

Firms have until April 1 to outline their interest in the licences, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) said in a statement. The licences would further encroach on Oman Telecommunications Co’s OTL.OM (Omantel) business in the country of 2.5 million people.

“The TRA invites telecom companies to submit proposals to set up mobile and fixed-line telephone services in Oman that will lead to a licence as operators,” the regulator said in a statement. The fixed-line licence will end the monopoly of Omantel, which last month bought a controlling stake in Pakistan’s Worldcall Telecom.

Very cool, a competitor for Omantel and a competitor for Nawras as well. Looks like the telecom sector in Oman is going to witness a new revolution in the years to come. Imagine making calls to India at 50-60 baisas a minute. Hmmm, could be a reality in 2010!

Customer service

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Me: Do you have orange juice?
Waiter: No, we don’t have…(silence)!

Me: What else do you have?
Waiter: Lemon juice…(silence)!

Me: Do you have pineapple juice?
Waiter: Yes… (silence)!

Me: Do you have fruit punch?
Waiter: Yes…(silence)!

…the food arrives, and there are around 5-6 different dishes. It looks confusing, so I ask pointing at a particular preparation…

Me: What is this dish?
Waitress: I don’t know!

Now, it was my turn to be ‘silent’!

Customer service, anyone?

This happened during my maiden visit to Golden Dragon, a Chinese restaurant in Madinat Qaboos. More reasons to love Golden Oryx.

Read earlier customer service rants, here and here.

Six candles

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It was my daughter’s sixth birthday yesterday. Unlike the last couple of years, this time we decided not to throw a party for her friends at Pizza Hut, and instead organized the celebrations at our flat. Pizza Hut charges RO 2.200 per kid now, and it is not worth for the money they charge. Seems like they have no innovations whatsoever when it comes to holding birthday parties. Having a party at home is not easy either as a lot of thought has to go into planning, research and execution. Mrs. took most of the responsibilities. We had some 20 kids attending the party, and it went on well with more fun than what it used to be at Pizza Hut. My daughter had a blast too.

We have told our daughter that after a couple of years from now we will do away with this trend of ‘mindless’ birthday parties which I feel are held more out of peer pressure. For her first and second birthdays, we didn’t have any celebrations for friends and families. In the first year, we provided sweets and savories to the inmates of a blind school in Bangalore and the second year, we donated cash to an old age home. I tell you, though we didn’t spend a fortune, the satisfaction we get out of this small gesture is immense. I was almost in tears after distributing sweets to the blind students, and no amount of words can describe the feeling. Celebrating birthdays are meaningful this way.

Local media musings

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Why are media publications in Oman not reader friendly? Every time I land up in a party or a get-together, this is a customary question directed at me, knowing very well that I work for a local media group. I don’t shy away from these queries either. I have a readymade answer. My usual reply would be…“media in Oman is advertising-driven”. This means all publications survive, make monies by printing advertisements and profits generated by way of sales (circulation) are a minimum. So much so that leading auto brands in Oman have become so arrogant that they decide on the slot for their advertisements and kind of coverage they need. For official launches, they get their own people to take pictures and write reports. Such is their dominance, and media houses are dancing to their tunes.
I want to assure readers that there are talented journalists and reporters in Oman, no doubts on that. But, what will an individual do if there are clamps all over the place to contain him. He can’t write on accidents, he can’t write about Cyclone Gonu, he can’t write about local issues …it is a long list. Finally he will write what his management expects of him. After all, like all expats, he is here to earn a living, make some quick bucks.
My favourite editor in India, Vinod Mehta of Outlook magazine, has written a scintillating piece on the state of journalism in India in this week’s magazine. He says:
Three examples will establish the huge confusion in readers’ minds regarding their expectations from the media.
1. Research shows that most readers want more international news. Yet the international pages of a newspaper are read the least. International news may be good for the soul but it does nothing for circulation.
2. Readers insist that the price of their morning paper doesn’t matter. The daily newspaper is such a vital part of their life that they would happily pay the extra rupee for it. Yet, as Rupert Murdoch and Samir Jain have demonstrated, print publications are extremely price-sensitive. You can bleed the opposition by cover price cuts.
3. Readers will tell you that they want a single-section, compact morning paper. They don’t want sections and supplements dropping out. Yet the opposite is true. Papers with multi-sections prosper, others suffer.
Remember, we editors are employed to lead readers, not be led by them. Really great journalism must do more than merely give people what they want. There has to be room for the unexpected, for stories the public has no idea it wants until it sees them.
The reader is a paradox. He frequently complains about negative news being constantly reported. But for all his clamouring for positive news, surveys show he’s more interested in sensational news, news about crime and corruption. The reader is not king; actually he is a nice hypocrite.

I am reading this piece over and again. I can’t get enough of it because I know this is plain truth and nothing else.