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The Bahraini  Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has invited proposals to assist in defining the methodology for the introduction of Local Loop Unbundling (LLU) in the country. Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications Company) lost its 23-year monopoly on the fixed line market in July 2004, but so far has faced only limited competition from operators which purchase its wholesales services. ‘This move is an essential enabler of further competition at the retail level, especially for the provision of high speed broadband’, said TRA’s General Director Alan Horne. The deadline for receipt of the proposals is 16 September’08.

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To provide subscribers with One-World Roaming services, Umniah, a leading provider of telecommunications services, recently joined the new Unified International Roaming service launched by Saudi Telecom, and Batelco Bahrain.

In August, 2008 this sevice will be instigated. This will provide travellers with fixed and low cost rates for calls during their stay at these countries. Customers will also receive a message explaining the roaming rates as well as the preferred roaming network in these respective countries. STC, Baleco Bahrain, and Umniah will be acting as one network.

VAS and Roaming Manager, Mr. Mohammad Serieh said, “We are proud to be amongst the pioneering providers of the One-World Roaming service in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain. By inaugurating this partnership, we are making communication easier and less costly for subscribers traveling across KSA, Bahrain and for travelers coming to Jordan,”
Umniah had launched International Voice Short Message service (SMS) to Palestine last March to send voice SMS messages to make easy communication with friends and relatives living in Palestine.

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Unified international roaming (UIR) service in 30 countries around the globe which will charge only SR1 per minute for receiving calls and SR1.50 for outgoing calls within the countries and to the Kingdom.

Saudi Telecom Co. (STC), the region’s largest telecommunications company has launched this service. This move by STC comes following complaints by clients who have used the roaming facility during their travels and were shocked by the high bills. “Excellence in customer service is our No. 1 priority,” said Al-Daweesh (STC President and CEO). “By enhancing our efficiency, we continue to maintain our leading market position and generate additional growth internationally by strategically planned developments, such as the UIR Network, to fulfill STC’s personal communications potential to the maximum extent by providing the best service with the least cost.”

Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco) has reported a 15.1% year-on-year fall in second-quarter net profit to USD61.99 million (BHD23.37 million), as rising costs and a drop in non-core earnings offset higher revenues from foreign and domestic telecoms operations. Group turnover in the three months ended 30 June rose 17.9% to BHD82.38 million. However, this could not make up for network operating expenses which climbed 32.9% to BHD25.48 million, a 49.9% increase in general and administrative costs to BHD10.63 million, and employee benefits expenses which rose 18.6% to BHD12.35 million. The telco also posted a sharp decline in ‘other’ income from BHD5.15 million in Q2 2007 to BHD461,000 in the most recent quarter, without giving further details. Batelco operates in Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Kuwait and Egypt, and is aiming to continue expanding to earn 80% of its revenues from foreign operations in the next five years, up from around a third currently. Domestically, the company finished the second quarter with 70,000 fixed broadband subscribers and 202,000 basic fixed lines in service. Batelco also reported that its mobile customer base across Bahrain, Jordan and Yemen reached 3.8 million at the end of June.

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Batelco has posted a 10.8% year-on-year rise in net profit to BHD27.4 million (USD72.7 million) for the first quarter of 2008, on revenues that were driven up 17.4% by overseas operations to BHD78.1 million. A company official said that the Bahraini former monopoly achieved a milestone of over 700,000 mobile subscribers in the Kingdom by the end of March, whilst its consolidated group mobile user base reached 3.3 million. Foreign operations now contribute approximately a third of Batelco’s revenues and more than 20% of its operating income.

Batelco also announced that its pre-paid wireless customers can now enjoy mobile broadband services on handsets, laptops and datacard-equipped devices at maximum downstream connection speeds of 3.6Mbps. The operator has expanded its HSDPA-based O-Net Mobile Broadband service to the pre-paid segment following a contract-only launch at the beginning of this year.

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Qatar has received five applications for its second fixed-line licence on offer, local regulator IctQatar announced. The country expects to award the new licence in April 2008, and the winner will compete against incumbent Qatar Telecom. The licence will be awarded according to a ‘beauty contest’ procedure, with IctQatar assessing each bid’s technical merits and services offered. The applicants include the Argos consortium with Verizon, Batelco, Etisalat, Eutelia and the Qipco consortium including PCCW. Additional parties may still register interest until 7 February 2008. The license award will be a fixed fee of QAR 10 million.

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Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

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Egyptian mobile group Orascom Telecom is considering entering the upcoming auction for one of two state-owned Lebanese mobile network operators, its chairman Naguib Sawiris said yesterday. The Egyptian tycoon dismissed risks of political instability in the country, saying that the main problem would be high prices set by the Lebanese government, which hopes to raise as much as USD7 billion from the sale on 21 February. Sawiris said his group, which has stakes in countries including Iraq, Zimbabwe and Pakistan, was used to political and security risks. ‘This is normal for us…Beirut is like a safe haven,’ he told press. At present, Lebanon’s only two mobile networks – MTC Touch Lebanon and Alfa – are managed under government contracts by Kuwaiti-based Zain Group (formerly MTC Group) and German-Saudi consortium DeTeCon respectively. The state also intends to issue a third mobile licence to fixed line incumbent Ogero Telecom (which will be renamed Liban Telecom). Bahrain’s Batelco has also said it is planning investments in Lebanon as part of a USD4 billion foreign acquisition plan, whilst Zain Group has announced a plan to bid in the auction to remain in the country, although it too has expressed concern over high prices.

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Batelco told the Bahrain Tribune that it has invested BHD5 million (USD13.5 million) in its new 3.5G W-CDMA/HSDPA mobile network, due to be launched nationwide this quarter. It added that investment in its next generation network (NGN) infrastructure reached BHD22 million, and that its total investment in its fixed and mobile networks has passed BHD1.4 billion in 26 years.

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Bahrain will issue its third mobile phone network operating licence this December, Alan Horne, General Director of the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), told the Bahrain Tribune. Horne said that all public comments on the licence award would be collected by 7 October and that the regulator would then proceed towards selecting the recipient of the third concession before the end of the year. He added that the TRA’s main purpose is to create better choice and value for telecoms consumers and businesses. Domestic fixed wireless licence holder Mena Telecom, which is currently deploying a WiMAX network, last week announced its intention to apply for the third mobile licence, while several international telecoms groups are also reportedly seeking entry to the Kingdom’s saturated but lucrative cellular market, which is currently a duopoly of fixed line incumbent Batelco and Zain Bahrain (formerly MTC–Vodafone Baharin). According to the Tribune, the TRA’s recent survey found that 62% of residential and 90% of business users were ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’ with the overall quality of mobile services, but only 22% of all subscribers surveyed expressed satisfaction with mobile service prices. According to the TRA director, ‘Basic underlying call charges from both mobile operators have changed very little since 2004. Despite each mobile operator having a significant market share, competition in the form of permanently lower prices has not eventuated.’

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