Bahrain TRA will auction 3rd mobile licence

Earlier, The Board had approved the award process and procedures for the auction for the third mobile licence, in accordance with the requirements of the Telecommunications Law, on the 3rd of September.

TRA's Chairman of the Board, Mr. Mohammed Al Amer, commented:

"The Board had endorsed and formally approved the competitive award, by auction, of the third mobile licence, and has now approved the publication of the final Tender Documents. I would like to thank TRA and our consultants, TMG, for their effort to ensure that the process and rules adhere to the highest levels of transparency so as to remain clear and concise for all potential bidders. The Board's approval to publish the Tender Documents keeps TRA on track to complete the process by the end of this year."

Mr.Alan Horne, General Director explained that: "The award process is designed to ensure that the previously stated aims set out in the Telecommunications Strategic Retail Market Review published earlier this year are met. TRA expects the winning bidder to be an experienced international player capable of offering innovative and affordable mobile services, to strengthen competition in Bahrain and deliver tangible socio-economic benefits to the Kingdom".

TRA's Director of Market and Competition, Mr. Rob Middlehurst, who is leading the award process, stated: "The auction will take the form of a multi-stage qualification process and a final financial round for suitably qualified bidders".

Mr Middlehurst went on to say: "In the interest of transparency the Tender Documents contain all of details of the pre-qualification requirements, as well as the technical evaluation criteria and thresholds to be used for bid evaluation. The Tender Documents were published yesterday September 16th on the TRA website, and are downloadable free of charge to prospective bidders after completing a brief electronic form.

Registration will also allow prospective bidders to seek clarification to the information provided in the documents, and the closing date for submitting questions is 16th October at 15:00 hrs. The final deadline to receive bids is no later than 15:00hrs on 13th November. After reviewing the initial pre-qualification information submitted by the bidders, TRA will announce on 18th November the names of the bidders who have passed the pre-qualification review as well as the date for opening the financial offers of those bidders."


Earlier this year, TRA announced the results of a strategic and retail market review, which indicated the requirement of several measures to support competition in the telecommunications markets of Bahrain.

One of these measures is the award of a third Mobile Licence to fuel competition in the mobile market, where currently only two operators compete (Batelco and Zain).