The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has published its latest Market Indicators Reports in the Kingdom of Bahrain, which measure the performance and development of the telecommunications sector. The reports include the Market Indicators in the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Arab Price Benchmarking Study and the Residential Market Survey.
According to these reports, the Kingdom's telecommunications sector witnesses continuous competition and achievements in providing diverse and high-quality telecommunications services to residential and businesses users.
The 2018 Arab Price Benchmarking Study stated that mobile services prices have fallen by up to 27% between 2017 and 2018 and up to 54% between 2013 and 2018. Fixed broadband prices have also fallen by up to 7% between 2017 and 2018 and up to 82% between 2013 and 2018.
The decline in prices has resulted in providing telecommunications services to a large segment of citizens and residents in the Kingdom. This has increased the penetration rates of telecommunications services in Bahrain which have become among the highest rates globally. Bahrain is ranked 10th globally in mobile penetration rate (158.4%), 5th globally in mobile broadband penetration rate (147.3%) and 3rd globally for the percentage of internet users by (98%), according to the Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum in October 2018.
The decline in prices, has resulted in subscribers migrating to higher internet speeds. According to the reports, in 2017, 84% of fixed broadband subscribers were provided with internet speeds equal to or more than 10 Mbps compared with only 10% in 2013. Moreover, the use of internet data has also doubled seven times between 2013 and 2018.
According to the latest Telecommunications Market Survey in the Kingdom of Bahrain, 83% of respondents are satisfied with their overall mobile services in 2017 and 85% are satisfied with their overall broadband services in 2017.
With regard to the telecommunications revenues, the decline in telecommunications services prices has significantly increased the number of subscriptions and the volume of usage, thus maintaining the sector's annual revenue at its level. According to the 2017 data, the telecommunications services revenue reached BD 426 million. Moreover, operators continue to invest in this sector to provide the latest technologies and best services as the investment volume reached BD 45 million in 2017, which indicates continuous investment and competition in this sector.
"As part of its duties and powers, TRA exerts significant efforts to protect the interests of subscribers and promote an effective and sustainable competition between the operators. It also supports the execution of the Government's policy to maintain the Kingdom's position among the developed countries regionally and internationally in the main ICT indicators. This will highly recognize the Kingdom's economy as an economy capable of adapting to future changes." said TRA Acting General Director Sh. Nasser Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa.
"TRA will continue to monitor and evaluate the performance and developments of the telecommunications sector and take the necessary measures to boost and develop it as it is an essential sector for the growth and development of other economic sectors to achieve the objectives of the Kingdom’s Economic Vision 2030." Sh. Nasser added.
Source: Press Release