Infocomm and Oman Mobile ink partnership to introduce SMS paid parking system in Muscat for Muscat Municipality

Oman Mobile's move to use state-of-the-art technology to extend the SMS parking service allows drivers in Muscat to be the first in the GCC and Middle East to enjoy the convenience of hassle-free parking, paid through their mobile phones.

Oman Mobile's strategic partnership with value added service provider Infocomm, a joint venture between The Zubair Corporation of Oman and iGroup of Singapore, has revolutionized the paid parking system in Oman and has already resulted in a overwhelming number of SMS tickets being issued to date.

Commenting on the strategic partnership which introduced the revolutionary paid parking system in Muscat, Karim Rehamtulla, Managing Director, Infocomm pointed to the fact that the system has already enjoyed a great response from end-users in the Sultanate and offers numerous advantages to drivers as well as well as the public sector parties involved.

"The new system facilitates processes between Muscat Municipality and the Traffic Police and offers several advantages including convenience to the public, increased sales for parking tickets, fully electronic transactions which increase accuracy and speed of delivery, in addition to facilitate efficient reporting methods, which the Municipality can utilize to make informed strategic decisions."

"We are pleased to be working with Oman Mobile to change the paid parking system in Oman. Oman Mobile has played an integral role in helping the Sultanate of Oman to establish a vital link with the rest of the world and become fully digitized through its investment in cutting-edge technology. It gives us great pleasure to be the technology partner of choice for Oman Mobile's new venture."

"This system in Oman is a true success story and we hope to emulate the achievement here and roll out similar systems in the rest of the GCC," continued Karim.

With the new SMS technology, the Sultanate has attained global standards in the technology of the paid parking system. The scheme of paying for parking fees through mobile phones is available in the US and throughout Europe.

Oman Mobile was named the Best Communication Service Provider in the Middle East at the Middle East Exhibition 2006 (Communications MEA Awards) held at the Dubai World Trade Centre recently. The awarding committee cited Oman Mobile's community based services, in addition to novel services such as 'Mobile Parking' via SMS.

The SMS Parking service allows the car driver to receive an SMS notification with the car's plate number and the ticket validity when purchasing the ticket. Time can be added by sending a subsequent message rather than re-feeding the metre manually. Postpaid subscribers will have a choice of various tariffs to select from, depending on the duration of parking, and the fees will be added to their mobile phone bill. Similarly, prepaid subscribers will have fees deducted from their prepaid accounts.

Traffic policemen will benefit from the new system, enabling them to use their portable GPRS enabled terminals, PDAs or any mobile device to check online whether the fee has been paid for a vehicle.