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Anil Ambani’s Flag Telecom ties up with OmanTel for telecom, internet link
MUMBAI: Flag Telecom, a Reliance Infocomm company, is stepping up its global operations. The network support and communication services company has signed up with Oman Telecommunications Company (OmanTel) for providing an internet transit point between West Asia and Africa.
Flag Telecom would also lay a marine cable for the Oman-based company. Flag Telecom executive president Punit Garg and Omantel executive president Mohammed Bin Ali Al Wahaibi signed the agreement.
Internet services along with lease circuit services and the Multi-Party Labelling System (MPLS), known to be the fastest electronic link, would begin from September to 12 countries, including the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.
“One of the agreements is to make Oman a link between Africa and the Middle East in the Flag‘s loop cable project, relating to the extension of communication links to Egypt and Hong Kong via marine cables with multiple landings in the Gulf region,” says an official release.
Omantel will seek to extend the African cable through a network of marine cables to converge at Seeb and Khasab in Oman.
The second agreement, to start in September, will be to make the country an internet transit point, catering to 12 countries including members of the Gulf Cooperation Council. It will also provide lease circuit services as well as multi-party labelling system, the fastest in electronic telecommunication technology.
“The signing of the MoUs was part of Omantel‘s keenness to boost its investments and to make the country a global communication hub,” says Al Wahaibi .
Flag Telecom has gained from a strong demand for its bandwidth by broadband service providers across the globe. In 2005, it signed major contracts for additional capacity with international carriers and a global internet content provider.
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With 57 per cent single new users, Ashley Madison rebrands as discreet dating platform
Platform says majority of new members now identify as single
INDIA: Ashley Madison is shedding the “married-dating” label that defined it for two decades, repositioning itself as a platform for discreet dating in what it calls the post-social media age.
The rebrand, unveiled in India on 27 February, 2026, marks a structural shift in business model and identity. Once synonymous with married dating, the company now describes itself as the “premier destination for discreet dating” under a new tagline: Where Desire Meets Discretion.
The pivot is data-driven. Internal figures show that 57 per cent of global sign-ups between 1 January and 31 December, 2025 identified as single: a notable departure from the platform’s married core. The company argues that its community has already evolved beyond its original positioning.
“In an age where our lives have been constantly put on public display, privacy has become the new luxury,” said Ashley Madison chief strategy officer Paul Keable. He framed the platform’s offering as “ethical discretion” for singles, separated, divorced and non-monogamous users seeking private connections.
The shift also taps into wider digital fatigue. A global survey conducted by YouGov for Ashley Madison, covering 13,071 adults across Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, the UK and the US, found mounting discomfort with hyper-public online lives.
Among dating app users, 30 per cent cited constant swiping and messaging as a source of fatigue, while 24 per cent pointed to pressure to curate public-facing profiles and early personal disclosure. Some 27 per cent said fears of screenshots or information being shared contributed to exhaustion; an equal share cited unwanted attention.
The retreat from oversharing appears broader. According to the survey, 46 per cent of adults actively try to keep most aspects of their life private online. Only 8 per cent feel comfortable sharing most aspects publicly, while 35 per cent say they are becoming more selective about what they disclose.
Ashley Madison is betting that this cultural recalibration towards controlled visibility can be monetised. By doubling down on privacy infrastructure and reframing itself around discretion rather than infidelity, the company is attempting to convert reputational baggage into a premium proposition.
