TRA announces more the 30% growth in employment and 74% growth in the telecom market

TRA's General Director Mr. Alan Horne announced today that 'since the start of liberalization of the telecommunications sector in 2004, there has been a growth in excess of 30% in employment in the sector, and the telecom market has grown by 74%. This clearly demonstrates the benefits of liberalization, and we expect this growth to continue as the market becomes more and more attractive to investors'.

He said that the availability of a variety of telecommunication services and operators would allow the business users to select services that best fulfill their needs. Mr. Horne encouraged the business community to carefully define their ICT needs, study the available options and adopt a tender process for selecting their ICT service providers based on a clear ICT plan.

Commenting on the developments that the telecom sector saw this year, Mr. Horne pointed out that Bahrain's favorable business environment and the government's endeavors to facilitate entry of investments has resulted in two major developments in the telecom market this year. One was the decision by Zain to move their international head quarters to Bahrain and the other is Orange Telecom partnership with Lightspeed.

Another major development was Zain's launch of their new services over the WiMax wireless network, which is the first of it's kind in Asia and the Arab World.

Further, the investment made by Batelco in new services, based upon their next generation network, demonstrates their commitment in proving improved services in a growing competitive environment.

Commenting on his participation in the luncheon, Mr. Horne said 'I'm always pleased to participate in such gatherings where the TRA can discuss the developments in the telecom sector and listen to various points of views from the business community, and I thank the BBBF for inviting us today and look forward to further cooperation in the future'.