Bahrain fixed broadband services become cheaper
MANAMA: Fixed broadband services in Bahrain have become cheaper by about a third, according to a new report by the telecoms watchdog.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s (TRA) latest retail price benchmarking study of telecommunications services in Arab countries found that prices of fixed broadband services in Bahrain have dropped by up to 33 per cent between 2016 and 2017.
Based on a set of agreed baskets, the prices of fixed and mobile broadband services in Bahrain compare very well regionally, shows the study done by TRA on behalf of the Arab Regulators Network (Aregnet).
It concluded that the mobile operators in Bahrain offer more competitive prices compared with other GCC countries.
The study also found that all the mobile packages in Bahrain have data service in addition to the voice services.
Although mobile operators stopped offering unlimited data allowance (with throttling of download speed after consuming the data threshold) and decreased the range of mobile packages, however, data allowances provided with these packages saw significant increases in 2017.
The study shows that 46pc of plans have data allowances of over 10GB in 2017 compared with 9pc in 2016.
The increase in data allowances provided with mobile packages were in response to increase in data usage.
Based on the latest market data, the average monthly outgoing mobile domestic voice minutes per customer dropped by 15pc, while mobile data usage increased by 16pc over the period 2016-2017.
Average monthly data usage for Bahrain in 2017 reached 9GB compared with 2GB in 2013.
Moreover, 80pc of mobile subscribers in the country had an active data subscription by the end of 2017 compared with 50pc in mid of 2013.
TRA’s acting general director Shaikh Nasser bin Mohamed Al Khalifa said: “The objective of the study is to monitor the development of the telecommunications market in Bahrain compared with Arab countries and developed countries.
“The study is part of TRA’s duties in protecting the interests of consumers and fostering a mature competitive telecommunications environment through taking the necessary actions to achieve this. This study is considered one of the significant initiatives implemented by Bahrain at the regional level.”
The regulator commissioned Strategy Analytics, an independent consulting firm that specialises in tariff comparisons, to carry out the research.
The study compared prices of telecommunications services in Arab countries with those in Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development countries (OECD).
It showed that most Arab providers have made changes to portfolios, speeds and data allowance since 2016.
Source: http://www.gdnonline.com/Details/382217/Bahrain-fixed-broadband-services-become-cheaper
