Flag inks deal with Oman, Kuwait

NEW DELHI: Oman and Kuwait on Sunday concluded deals with Anil Ambani-owned Flag Telecom to connect their countries to the latter’s upcoming tera bit capacity undersea cable, Falcon.

The deals for the contract were signed in the presence of Anil Ambani, chairman, Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (R-ADAG) in Muscat and Kuwait City respectively, company official said.

The deals envisage bulk purchase under which OmanTel and the Ministry of Communications of Kuwait will both buy significant amounts of international bandwidth from Flag Telecom on the Falcon cable.

Both deal size for both contracts combined is around $75m, company executives said. In Oman, the contract was signed by Mr Ambani and Saud Al-Shakeeri, chairman and president, Omantel in the presence of Mohammed bin Ali Al Wohaibi, president, Omantel.

In Kuwait, the R-ADAG chairman and the minister for telecom, Ismail AlShattim, signed the agreement to establish the first undersea submarine cable connectivity to the country.

ET had first reported on June 21 that Oman was in advanced talks with Reliance Communications and that company officials were expected in Oman later in the week to conclude the deal.

This will also provide both countries direct connectivity on the Flag global network in addition to help meet the burgeoning demands. Reliance executives said that Mr Ambani was also likely to visit Saudi Arabia and Bahrain to sign similar deals.