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Bahrain Telecommunications Report Q4 2010
Business Monitor International, Sep 2010, Pages: 88
Business Monitor International's Bahrain Telecommunications Report provides industry professionals and strategists, corporate analysts, telecommunication associations, government departments and regulatory bodies with independent forecasts and competitive intelligence on Bahrain's telecommunications industry.
BMI’s latest Bahrain Telecommunications Report includes mobile subscriber figures of third-ranked VIVA for the first time. The company is owned by Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC), and launched services in February 2010. The operator had an estimated 150,000 subscribers at the end of March 2010, significantly boosting overall subscriber figures in the mobile market, to reach 1.636mn subscribers.
Until the launch of VIVA, Bahrain’s mobile market had been suffering from slow growth as a result of high penetration rates, a fall in the population, and the deactivation of inactive SIM cards. Over 2009, the number of subscribers had risen by just 4.7%, representing a significant decline from the previous year, coming in at a y-o-y growth of 30.3%. That said, we still expect a number of deactivations to take place in coming years with penetration rates at over 160%, and therefore still housing a number of inactive SIMS.
BMI has revised its mobile forecasts this quarter, and we believe that by the end of 2010, the market will have expanded by 11.2% y-o-y, aided by VIVA, to end with a total subscriber base of 1.692mn. Over the next four years, we forecast an average annual growth rate of 1.8%, to reach 1.818mn, representing a penetration rate of 177.3%.
There were no changes in fixed-line or internet forecasts with no new data published by the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA). However, it was announced in July 2010, that the Bahraini government has decided to build a national broadband network (NBN). The Electricity & Water Authority (EWA) will provide excess capacity on its fibre-optic network at fair and reasonable prices on an open access basis. The government selected Bahrain Internet Exchange (BIX) to monitor operational aspects of the NBN to develop it in accordance with the National Economic Strategy 2009-2014. Not only will this prove to aid broadband growth, but similarly, efforts in the WiMAX sector should also help. In June 2010, WiMAX broadband operator Mena Telecom selected US telecoms handset and equipment vendor Motorola, to expand its WiMAX network capacity and coverage in the country, reports Ameinfo.com. The operator intends to make its network capable of handling 100,000 subscribers simultaneously. The operator registered about 45,000 broadband subscribers within 18 months of its launch, and intends to enhance its network for the expected subscriber base increase.
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