In a pair of utility-sector agreements announced during Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tarik’s June 29, 2026 state visit to Paris, Oman’s National Energy Centre formalized a smart meter manufacturing partnership with French technology group Sagemcom, while SUEZ locked in a €2 billion, 15-year performance-based contract with Nama Water Services to operate water and wastewater infrastructure serving 43 percent of Oman’s population. The transactions, signed in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron at the Omani-Franco Business Forum, mark the most significant cluster of Franco-Omani utility commitments to date and directly advance the industrial and digital transformation goals of Oman Vision 2040.
Ectron Becomes Oman’s First Domestic Smart Meter Manufacturer
The Sagemcom agreement was signed between Salah Abdullah al Zakwani, Chief Executive Officer of the National Energy Centre, and Ahmed Selmani, President of Sagemcom. The deal formally ties Oman’s Platform for Smart Manufacturing, operating as Ectron and a subsidiary of the NEC, to Sagemcom’s global metering technology stack. Ectron is located within Rusayl Industrial City on the outskirts of Muscat and is described as the first smart meter manufacturing facility of its kind in the sultanate.
The facility was capitalized at approximately $10 million and involves co-investment from the Social Protection Fund, Shumookh Investment and Services, and Modim. Projected cumulative revenues from the facility are estimated at around $350 million over eight years, a figure that presupposes sustained domestic utility procurement as well as export volumes across target markets.
Technology Transfer Scope Covers Electricity and Water Metering
Under the partnership, the two organizations will work jointly on the production of smart electricity meters and smart water meters, integrating Ectron’s in-country assembly infrastructure with Sagemcom’s expertise in smart grid architectures, data management platforms, and remote monitoring systems. The arrangement is structured around knowledge transfer, with Sagemcom providing technical training, product engineering support, and access to its metering firmware and communications protocols.
Sagemcom, headquartered in Bois-Colombes near Paris, reported turnover of over €2.3 billion in 2024 and operates across more than 50 countries. Its metering division, Sagemcom Energy and Telecom, supplies smart electricity, water, and gas meters to utilities globally and holds approvals across multiple regulatory frameworks including in the Middle East, where the company already markets its XT 211 MEA meter series tailored to Gulf network standards.
A Captive Market Takes Shape as SUEZ Deploys 400,000 Smart Water Meters
The strategic logic of the Ectron-Sagemcom venture is reinforced by a parallel procurement pipeline within Oman itself. The SUEZ contract signed on June 29 specifies the operation of more than 400,000 smart water meters as part of the Cluster 1 water services scope covering Muscat and the North and South Sharqiyah governorates. Kurrantly News previously reported that Nama Water Services had been rolling out this same smart water meter fleet nationally since 2024, with over 320,000 units deployed in Muscat and more than 70,000 in South Batinah before the SUEZ contract formalized operational responsibility.
That existing and expanding base of connected meters represents a direct and quantifiable downstream market for a domestic manufacturer such as Ectron. Future procurement decisions by Nama and other Omani distribution utilities could channel device orders to Rusayl rather than to imported equipment, provided Ectron reaches the quality and cost benchmarks required for utility-grade metering.
SUEZ Wins Its Largest-Ever Middle East Contract with 33 KPI Commitments
The water services agreement awarded by Nama Water Services to SUEZ and its Omani partners, National Trading Company and the National Energy Centre, is the largest contract SUEZ has ever secured in the Middle East, valued at €2 billion over 15 years. The scope covers the operation and maintenance of 240 production wells, approximately 10,700 kilometers of drinking water pipelines distributing 470,000 cubic meters per day, four desalination plants, 22 wastewater treatment plants with a combined capacity of 280,000 cubic meters per day, around 3,000 kilometers of sewer networks, and 400 kilometers of treated effluent networks used for water reuse.
The contract is structured as a performance-based agreement with 33 key performance indicators, including a mandate to cut network water losses from the current 34 percent to 11 percent by 2040, a target that aligns with international benchmarks for mature water utilities but requires a reduction of more than two-thirds from today’s baseline. Operator remuneration is linked to KPI attainment, creating a financial incentive structure uncommon in the region’s utility sector.
“It is an honour for SUEZ to collaborate with the Omani authorities to provide sustainable drinking water and sanitation services to more than 2 million people,” said Xavier Girre, Chief Executive Officer of SUEZ, in the company’s June 29, 2026 press release. “This is also a great source of pride as it is the largest contract ever awarded to SUEZ in the Middle East, illustrating the strong momentum of our development in the region.”
Digital Infrastructure Is Central to the Water Services Delivery Model
SUEZ will deploy its proprietary Aquadvanced platform for real-time monitoring and optimization of both plant and network performance, complemented by its Inflowmatics and iDroloc systems for advanced pressure management and acoustic leak detection, and Sewerball sensors for rapid identification of pollution or infiltration events in sanitation networks. The National Energy Centre, which is also a consortium partner in the SUEZ contract, is specifically tasked with driving advanced metering infrastructure rollout, digital transformation initiatives, and operational optimization throughout the agreement. That role reinforces the NEC’s positioning as both a manufacturing entity through Ectron and a smart utility services integrator.
The contract includes a binding Omanization commitment exceeding 83 percent of the workforce, as well as in-country value requirements consistent with Oman Vision 2040’s industrial localization objectives. A long-term capacity building program developed around international expert knowledge is designed to build operational and managerial depth in the Omani utility workforce over the contract’s life.
Franco-Omani Utility Deals Reflect a Wider Bilateral Industrial Push
The utility agreements were among the most commercially significant transactions signed at the June 29 forum, which was organized by the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Business France alongside the Oman Investment Authority. The session brought together over 60 French and Omani companies and produced agreements spanning aerospace, air traffic control, renewable energy, logistics, fragrance, automotive distribution, and education. The 120-megawatt wind plant previously contracted between Bahwan Group and EDF, a CMA CGM logistics corridor and port terminal deal valued at $500 million, and an air traffic control radar agreement between Thales and Ankaa Space and Technologies were among the other headline transactions.
For Sagemcom, the Oman partnership is consistent with a broader Middle East expansion strategy the firm has pursued through prior engagements in Qatar and Saudi Arabia. For SUEZ, the Nama Water Services award extends a Middle East presence dating to 1956 and adds Oman to an operational portfolio that currently includes water services in the Western Cluster of Saudi Arabia and wastewater operations in Qatar. Oman, for its part, is now moving simultaneously on both the demand side, through long-term utility service contracts, and the supply side, through domestic metering manufacturing, a combination that positions the sultanate to reduce import dependency and potentially supply GCC, broader Middle East, and African markets under its Made in Oman export brand.
