Nawras

Forgive me members for I have sin, it has been two weeks since my last diary entry. What was the talk of the town for the past week?. You got it, the long anticipated launch of our next mobile provider, one and only NAWRAS. And belive it or not they actually have set a date now, 16th March to be precise.

I was not so keen to get a line with them, but knowing they were new and probably they would have special numbers, I said what the heck, let me do my hubby a surprise and get him a classy number. So off I went to Araimi. It was so funny to see on one side there it was the infamous Narwas, and just opposite to it our beloved OmanMobile. Talking about confusion, this was it, I can see it now, for every potential customer visits Araimi he or she would go something like this, Inni Mini miny mo, which of the two mobile provide should I go

Let me end this diary by saying, Narwas need to be careful , with the pricing scheme they introduced it’s a matter of time before they file for bankruptcy. One would think they would be cheaper, but its actually more expensive if you think about it. The cheapest package starts with 19 Baisa per minute, provided the call exceeds five minutes otherwise pricing of 39 Baisa per minute is applied, mind you this only works if the phone call from Nawras to Nawras network, if the call from Nawras to OmanMobile Network than it’s a fixed 39 Baisa per minute. If you compare with OmanMobile, they charge 25 Baisa per minute around Muscat, its only when distance exceeds beyond the Muscat area than the charges goes up.

The questions you need to ask yourself, how often you call beyond the Muscat area, more importantly, how often your calls go beyond the first five minute. Last but not least, statistically speaking, knowingly over half a million of subscribers are of OmanMobile, than one would easily safely assume that most of the calls made from Narwas Network would definitely be towards OmanMobile Network.

Frankly speaking it just doesn’t JIVE, Narwas are expensive, and the management need to realize this sooner rather than later, and if they depend on customer service as their competitive advantage, than they need to re-think their strategy, OmanMobile have improved tremendously in that area, otherwise I foresee yet another busted company in Oman.

But what to say, its the Story of our lives right!