Mobile operator Ooredoo Oman has signed an agreement to provide the Oman Aquaculture Development Company (OADC) with a full range of cloud-based data services. The agreement comes just one month after the introduction of Ooredoo’s first locally hosted, enterprise-class virtual server, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).

Ooredoo’s permanent cloud solution is designed to fit a wide variety of workload dynamics. It can reach communication speeds of 10 Gbps and offers complete console access for customers with 24/7 support. The company’s virtual server allows businesses of all sizes to seamlessly and instantly access their data over a highly secure network. Under the flexible payment plans, Ooredoo customers will be charged by the hour and billed by the month.

Tarifica’s Take

This initiative is yet another example of what MNOs can do to transcend their traditional roles and find sources of both revenue and relevance. With its IaaS virtual server product, Ooredoo is positioning itself as a technology provider, not just a mobile operator. The offering, if successful in terms of delivering a viable and competitive service, would allow the operator to bring something that would normally be a third-party offering in-house, keep the revenue, and strengthen its brand.

While we cannot know at this point what kind of future IaaS has, we know that it has acquired its first customer. It also appears that the Oman Aquaculture Development Company is a good customer in the sense that it has national reach and is developing a food production process that is of potential importance to the country’s economy. If successful, it will bring positive publicity to the operator.

The features of IaaS as described are attractive—high-speed data transmission in the cloud, intuitive control, 24/7 customer service, and flexible payment plans. As such, they should be persuasive in acquiring new enterprise customers—in particular if the partnership with OADC proves fruitful.