Report on Industrial Visit to Omantel on 9 October 2018

Mr Yasin, the operational head, addressed the students and introduced them to landline and broadband connections. The objective of the visit was to provide and show the real time operations and maintenance of Omantel’s telecommunication system to the students of the Telecommunication Engineering course.

The visit to the Ibri earth station and telecommunication exchange lasted three hours. Mr Younis presented the operations, maintenance activities and future plans of Omantel’s Ibri branch earth station. He also introduced the Omantel officials to the students. Students actively participated in this session. After the presentation, the students were taken to the Omantel exchange, located on the Ibri souq road.

Mr Yasin and Mr Younis explained the operations of the old analogue telephone system and compared it to today’s modern telecommunication systems including the wireless communication system, available on the Omantel network.

The students viewed the entire exchange to observe real-time operations, automatic switching, and high-speed transmission devices. The students collected samples of various types of cable and wire, including fibre optic cable used in the transmission highway. The visit concluded at 11.30am with the commitment of future support by Omantel in connection with student training and technical support.

Technical specifications: This visit set out the technical specifications of the Omantel Network. The ITU-T recommendations applied were given as a demonstration. They explained the PNT, Broadband, 2G, 3G and 4G networks. The connection of Omantel E1 interfaces with the Requesting Party E1 interfaces using proper over voltage and lightning protection measures were observed. Common earthing for both Omantel and the requesting party equipment with E1 interfaces were described.

With regard to internet communication, they presented a demonstration on accessing ADSL, where the broadband connection is routed from the customer connectivity to Omantel’s aggregation router and further via the Omantel IP backbone to reach the AAA server at the requesting party’s premises. After authentication, the customer is assigned the required resources for full access to the internet. The requesting party bills the customer for the service and for the traffic usage. They described the Omantel data centres connected to Omantel’s operated Cable Landing Stations and Earth Station that provide access to all Omantel-offered international connectivity services through submarine cables and satellites respectively.

The students were satisfied with the alignment of their course and industrial visit. They were happy to learn about new technology. The course teacher, Mr R Devasenathipathy showed interest in aligning the industrial visit with the course. The outcome of the visit was to give a clear idea on the latest trends in telecommunication technology and operation of telecommunication exchange.

In our quest to provide quality education and to contribute to the national development endeavours of the Sultanate of Oman, this visit has offered a way for our students to acquire job-relevant knowledge and industrial experience, both inside and outside the college.

Students were exposed to the real time environment of telecommunication. Omantel staff members extended their services during their schedule by engaging our students.