Page 10 - SAMENA Trends - January 2020
P. 10

FEATURED   SAMENA TRENDS


                             TRA Bahrain Speaks to SAMENA Council




                                                                           5G in combination with the Internet

                                                                           of Things  will bring  countless
                                                                           opportunities  that  will  require
                                                                           buy-in  from investors  beyond
                                                                           the  Telecoms  and ICT  sector,  as
                                                                           the  applications  of  these  new
                                                                           technologies significantly impact
                                                                           every sector imaginable. We have
                                                                           received  new licensee requests
                                                                           from IoT companies  and  there

                                                                           seems to be an increased interest
                                                                           in  investment  from IoT centric
                                                                           businesses.


                                                                        Q. How has the TRA Bahrain made significant strides
                                                                        in fulfilling the Bahrain Government’s digital vision of
                                                                        positioning Bahrain among the leading ICT developing
                                                                        nations in the world?
                                                                        A.  At the end  of May 2019, Batelco,  the incumbent
                                                                        was legally separated into two separate, independent
                                                                        entities.  Bnet  was  formed as  the new wholesale
                                                                        infrastructure provider, and Batelco remained  as
                                                                        a  retail  services provider,  which leases Bnet’s
                                                                        Broadband  Infrastructure  to  resell  fiber-optic  fixed
                                                                        internet services to end-users, as is the case for other
                                                                        licensees in the Kingdom. For this to materialize, we
                                                                        established  a  new economic  regulatory framework
                                                                        in line with the government’s policy directions under
                                                                        NTP4,  then issued the separation guidelines  and
        Shaikh Nasser Bin Mohamed Al Khalifa                            reference offer, setting out the terms and conditions
                                                                        under  which the new entity,  Bnet, would offer its
        Acting General Director                                         services to all  other  licensees, and changes  to the
        TRA - Bahrain                                                   telecom law that preceded all of these key milestones
                                                                        and the creation of a compliance committee which we
                                                                        are finalizing now.


                                                                        It’s  worth noting that very  few countries  have
                                                                        attempted this, as establishing a national broadband
                                                                        network is a monumental undertaking. We’re the first
                                                                        and the only regulator to have done it successfully in
                                                                        the MENA region as of yet, and completed this project
                                                                        in thirty-six months, which is unprecedented.








                                                                                                    10    JANUARY 2020
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