MUSCAT // Oman’s public telecoms provider, Omantel, was down for several hours on Monday in an unprecedented glitch a day before the country’s National Day celebrations.
Several Omanis said that it was the first time the network was out of service for so long. Customers could not make phone calls, use the internet, ATMs, or in-store credit card machines until about 8pm local time.
“The Network Operations Centre at Omantel headquarters has diagnosed the issue and identified the affected areas, and is now working on resolving it,” Omantel tweeted.
“Some of our customers may have difficulties using fixed and mobile services due to a technical issue that we are dealing with.”
There was speculation that the telecom provider had been hacked. In recent years, Omani government websites and a bank have been attacked by cyber criminals.
jvela@thenational.ae
