Any idea if Hayak users can send SMS ?

Well its been promised to be activated from the beginning by 2003...but so far no announcement have been made as far as I know...

Well yeah,

Some friends were saying that the hayak network will start the sms service from the first of Jan 2003.....

But no official thing that i have on me! sorry

I can't believe how the Omantel service is so bad and primitive, here in the UK, the pay as you go phones have SMS, VMS, and even WAP!

blue_chi.... i dont think you can compare between the service between Oman and UK..... two different markets and there is more then one mobile network supplier....

well..until now no signs for the SmS for 7ayak users ...maybe in the coming days they might announce it.

:duh: Compare it with Etisalat (the UAE thing) then! They even have all these features long time ago!:duh:

now your talking...... the difference is within the company structure and ....how easy it takes to implement new technologies..and how long it takes to test them.

All we can look out for now is how omantel will be like a company ....will it improve to a point people start giving a smile when they hear their name...or make more and more people....fustrated about them.... only time can tell. :)

The problem is Oman is that we DON'T have any other choice that Omantel.
I don't think that it will never become better, because their isn't a reason for them to do that, all the people would still pay for their services because they dont have any other choice. What we need is competition, we need the private section to establish mobile service providers to get the consumers better services. This wouldn't only benefit the people, but it would also force Omantel to improve its services to be able to keep all its constumers.

exactly.....and thats what is going to happen now...as its been declared that starting 2003....alll new communication companies can be established..and as far as I recall there are a couple of agreements done about this...we should hear about them quite soon..hopefully.....

The first commercial service provider is "Thuraya" as I can recall, it was established last year and was provider communication services for companies and big organisation.
Soon more service providers shall join, and Oman telecommunications should hopefully see the light at last!