Muscat: Oman’s first electronic auction of special ‘diamond’ and ‘gold’ mobile numbers will kick off on Monday. The bidding will take place under the supervision of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). The online auction is being organised by service providers Omantel and Ooreedoo through their websites.
Mohammad Al Kindi, executive director, Regulatory and Compliance Unit, TRA, said one of objectives is to limit the illegal trade in private numbers.
Last month, the TRA announced consumers could obtain fancy mobile numbers via a new online auctioning system.
The TRA said that as per Decision No.1/2018, ‘diamond’ and ‘gold’ class numbers will be allocated through an auction. The aim is to also increase transparency in the allocation of numbers.
The upper limit for the auction price is 5,000 Omani riyals (Dh47,700), while the minimum price for the ‘diamond’ and ‘gold’ numbers is 100 riyals and 75 riyals, respectively.
Silver numbers have a fixed price of 50 riyals.
The TRA has requested all interested parties to register for the auction system. Registration will cost 20 riyals.
TRA has allocated multiple blocks of 100,000 numbers, with each block having a range of diamond, gold and silver numbers.
Money from the auction will go to charity, said the TRA.
