The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (“TRA”) has issued the final report on its strategic market review (“SMR”) of the telecommunications sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The final SMR report presents the results of a strategic review of the telecommunications market in Bahrain and proposed changes to market regulations that are expected to stimulate a more dynamic and efficient sector and ensure that the completion continue to deliver benefits to consumers and business.
The strategic review provides TRA with a roadmap of projects and activities to be completed within the coming eighteen months. These projects and activities include for example the deregulation of several retail markets where competition has emerged. This includes the deregulation of retail markets for fixed originated domestic calls for residential customers, and for fixed originated international calls for the remaining regulated destinations.
The SMR also proposes to conduct market reviews of the remaining retail markets to ensure that the regulation in Bahrain remains targeted only in those areas where there is insufficient competition.
The final report also presents recommendations that address the technological issues such as infrastructure sharing, spectrum licensing and the National Broadband Network. These issues will be subject to policy directions set out in the forthcoming fourth National Telecommunications Plan.
TRA’s General Director Mohamed Bubashait commented: “The final SMR report sets out TRA’s proposed directions on what should be done to promote an even more efficient and dynamic telecoms market. Through the outcomes of the SMR, Bahrain will be taking significant steps towards ensuring that regulation is in-sync with the recent market and technological developments. TRA continues to be a highly progressive market regulator, taking pioneering steps to fostering efficient market outcomes. We have considered the industry and other stakeholders views on TRA’s proposed way forward”.
Since the previous strategic market review, which took place in 2008, the telecommunications market in Bahrain has developed positively in a number of areas. In most market segments, there are a variety of providers and therefore choice for consumers. The level of mobile and broadband penetration of 177% and 142% respectively, is one of the highest in the region. Price trends have been generally very positive for consumers, with up to 50% reduction in the level of prices for mobile services, and up to 70% reduction for fixed broadband services. Overall prices are amongst the lowest in the region for most services and customer groups. In addition, satisfaction for mobile and broadband services reached 90% in 2014 compared with 60% in 2007.
Significant investments have been made in new technologies, notably the roll-out of competitive Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks throughout the country following TRA’s decision in 2013 to allocate additional spectrum. In addition, international capacity and cable route diversity has improved and international connectivity costs have decreased significantly.
Furthermore, since the 2008 SMR, TRA has adapted its regulatory approach to reflect the evolving telecoms market. For instance, in 2014 TRA removed retail price controls on retail market for mass-market broadband internet access from a fixed location.
An important part of the SMR has been the submissions made by stakeholders, particularly on the draft SMR report which was released on 15 December 2014. These submissions provided TRA with a variety of views on the telecommunications market in Bahrain. The contributions made by the stakeholders have been an important input to the final SMR report. A detailed review of the submissions received from the operators is provided in the external response document.
Source: TRA