The Kingdom of Bahrain’s telecom sector, one of the most liberal regimes in the region, has yielded over $1 billion in net revenues in 2011 and this trends continues in 2012, the Telecom State Minister disclosed on Tuesday.
Shaikh Fawaz Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, the Minister of State for Communications, who met with the Parliamentary Committee for Public Facilities and Environment under the leadership of Hasan Al-Doseri at Parliament’s headquarters in Gudaibiya, highlighted the salient features of the teleom sector and Government’s vision on challenges and opportunities in telecom and ICT sectors.
The purpose of the meeting was to present information about the current state of the telecom industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain and updating the committee about ongoing projects and future plans. These include the improvement of wired and wireless services and infrastructure in the Kingdom, as well as future plans for the National Broadband Network and the Green Smart City.
HE Sheikh Fawaz pointed out to the committee that Bahrain telecom operators offer the lowest rates in the GCC, making the sector one of the most important economic contributors in the Kingdom. He pointed out that the net revenue for 2011 was BD406 million (over $1 billion), which amounts to 4% of the GDP. This trend continued in 2012 with 26 million Internet subscribers, 1.9 million mobile subscribers and 254,000 fixed line subscribers.
The Ministry has launched a study on the 1777 cell towers in the Kingdom and noted that 40% of them are located within a 100 meter radius. Moreover, 75% of cell towers don’t have building permits and only 4% are shared between operators. The Ministry is working on a solution that will be presented to the Cabinet.
Local (Batelco), Regional (Viva) and International (Huawei) Telecoms representatives were also in attendance to discuss their contribution to the telecommunications sector, which includes infrastructure development, training and providing a wide range of communications services in the Kingdom.
H.E. the Minister praised the cooperation between the public and private sectors and noted that the impressive developments in the telecom sector are the result of the opening the door for healthy competition through allowing more operators to enter the market, which has benefited the consumer.
For his part, MP Al Doseri expressed his appreciation to HE Sheikh Fawaz’ initiative to meet with the committee and encouraged more dialogue between MPs and Ministers in order to build the positive relationship between the Legislative and Executive branches of government that benefits all in the Kingdom.