Arab Advisors major online survey of Oman's Internet users revealed that 40.2% of adult Internet users in Oman have used e-commerce. The Arab Advisors Group estimates the number of Oman Internet users who use e-commerce to be more than 158,000 which is around 5.62% of the total population in Oman, spending US$ 236 million in e-commerce transactions in 2008.
A new major survey of the Internet users in Oman was concluded by the Arab Advisors Group on January 29, 2009. The survey report, Oman Internet Users and E-commerce Survey 2009 was released on March 5, 2008 and provides the results of a major comprehensive online survey of Internet users in Oman. The survey covered the Internet usage, e commerce, cellular and Pay TV usage and habits of the online community in Oman. The survey’s online field work was conducted during January 2009.
The report “Oman Internet Users and E-commerce Survey 2009 “has 100 pages and 107 exhibits.
Respondents were randomly targeted by receiving an email shot in their inbox to ask them to fill the survey in cooperation with Oman's incumbent telecom operator, Omantel. The survey results encompass answers from 696 respondents that passed rigorous quality control checks. Quality control was conducted by Arab Advisors Group’s team. The survey was conducted on the general Internet population that is above 18 years of age. The online survey yields a confidence level of 99% with a margin of error of less than 5%.
"VoIP usage among Internet users reached 27.0%. 20.7% of total respondents use special software packages (Skype, GoogleTalk, etc) to make calls through the Internet. The majority of respondents (73.0%) do not make calls through the Internet." Mr. Hussam A. Barhoush, Arab Advisors Senior Research Analyst, mentioned in the report.
The Arab Advisors Group divided the survey questionnaire into four main sections: Telecommunications, Internet, e-services and Pay TV.