[January 02, 2013]

Research and Markets: Bahrain Telecommunications Report Q1 2013

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/scn443/bahrain) has announced the addition of the "Bahrain Telecommunications Report Q1 2013" report to their offering.

BMI View

Bahrain's mobile market recorded a marginal growth in Q212, a sign of increasing saturation in the voice segment. However, strong growth of mobile broadband subscriptions supports our view that data services are the next growth frontier for the telecoms markets. We expect the country's three mobile operators, and perhaps one or more new entrants, to take advantage of this opportunity with the development of 4G/LTE (News - Alert) services after the expected allocation of frequencies in early 2013.

Key data

- Mobile growth in Q212, at just 0.6% q-o-q, was the slowest in five consecutive quarters.

- Bahrain's mobile ARPU edged up by around 10% as a result of growing mobile data usage.

- Postpaid subscriptions continue to rise, albeit it at a slower pace than prepaid subscriptions, as operators shift their strategy towards boosting high-value subscriptions on their networks.

Key Trends And Developments

Bahrain's telecoms market is moving rapidly towards data-centric, high-value services as operators attempt to offset revenue shortfall from traditional voice services. This trend is reflected by operators'

product development and network investment strategies. In September 2012, Zain (News - Alert) Bahrain announced plans to invest US$100mn in the latter part of 2012 and in 2013 to upgrade its network and build a new datacentre. This followed the launch of cloud computing services by incumbent operator Batelco in Q312.

Batelco's launch of infrastructure-management-as-a-service (IMaaS) is part of the company's wider cloud computing strategy. Meanwhile, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has reiterated its intention to allocate 4G/LTE spectrum in early 2013, a situation that improves the outlook for advanced mobile services in the country.

Companies Mentioned

- Bahrain Telecommunications Company (Batelco)

- Zain (Formerly MTC Bahrain)

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/scn443/bahrain

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